— I — 


This  book  ^  issued  in  memory  of  JOHN  FAIRFIELD  DRYDEN, 
Founder  of  The  Prudential  Insurance  Company  of  America  and  for 
more  than  thirty  years  its  President. 

Mr.  Dry  den's  death,  on  November  24,  1911,  called  forth  from  all 
classes  so  many  beautiful  tributes  of  sympathy  and  esteem  that  it  was 
thought  fitting  to  mark  its  first  anniversary  by  puolishing  a  few  of  them 
in  this  form.  It  is  regrettable  that  it  was  found  impracticable  to  print 
all  of  the  great  many  received. 

These  tributes  bear  witness  to  Mr.  Dry  den  s  marvelous  business  ability, 
declare  his  nobility  of  character,  his  kindly  nature  and  his  broad 
humanity,  and  express  a  deep  feeling  of  the  loss  his  death  has  been 
to  The  Prudential  and  to  his  fellow  man. 


c^r^^Jhy^^x^y 


JOHN  FAIRFIELD  DRYDEN 

IOUNDER  and  President  of  The 
Prudential  Insurance  Company  of 
America,  died  at  the  age  of 
seventy-two,  at  his  residence, 
Number  1020  Broad  Street, 
Newark,  New  Jersey,  on  Friday, 
November  twenty-four,  nineteen 
hundred  and  eleven,  after  an  illness  of  one  week, 
from  pneumonia,  following  a  surgical  operation. 

Mr.  Dryden's  death  came  as  a  severe  shock  and 
his  passing  has  been  mourned  by  his  family,  his 
friends,  his  colleagues,  by  men  in  every  walk  of 
public  and  private  life,  by  the  city,  the  State,  the 
Nation,  and  by  the  entire  Prudential  Staff. 

The  funeral,  impressive,  simple  and  dignified, 
was  held  in  Newark,  New  Jersey,  Monday, 
November  twenty-seven,  nineteen  hundred  and 
eleven,  attended  by  thousands  of  business  asso- 
ciates and  friends,  among  them  many  of  America's 
foremost  citizens. 

Beautiful  and  heartfelt  tributes  to  President 
Dryden  poured  in  on  the  family  and  The  Pruden- 
tial from  all  sides,  and  many  are  here  gathered 
and  published,  together  with  some  interesting  facts 
of  President  Dryden's  life,  to  show  the  esteem  and 
affection  of  those  who  knew  him. 

They  emphasize  the  wonderful  man  the  world 
has  lost  in  President  Dryden,  who  builded  so  well 
and  accomplished  so  much. 

His  life  and  his  work  are  his  monuments. 


Bancroft  Library 


PRESIDENT  DRYDEN'S  LIFE — A  RECORD 
OF  ACCOMPLISHMENT 

]MONG  the  foremost  men  of  the  life  insurance 
world,  past  or  present,  stands  John  F.  Dryden, 
pioneer  of  Industrial  Insurance  in  America, 
founder  of  The  Prudential  Insurance  Company 
of  America,  and  United  States  Senator  from  1902 
to  1907.  Mr.  Dryden  was  born  on  a  farm,  at 
Temple  Mills,  near  Farmington,  Me.,  August  7, 
1839,  the  son  of  John  and  Elizabeth  B.  Dryden,  of  old  New  Eng- 
land ancestry.  He  was  studious  in  his  youth  and  inclined  to  in- 
tellectual pursuits,  taking  every  advantage  of  study  and  inquiry 
to  prepare  himself  for  entrance  into  Yale  college,  in  1861.  Never 
robust  in  health,  he  broke  down  before  graduation,  but  in  honor 
of  his  subsequent  achievements,  the  University  conferred  upon  him 
the  degree  M.  A.,  and  his  name  was  entered  in  the  Tri-Centennial 
Catalogue  as  one  of  the  graduates  of  the  class  of  1865. 

After  leaving  college  Mr.  Dryden  became  interested  in  life  insur- 
ance, in  its  particular  application  to  the  practical  solution  of  the 
economic  problems  of  the  poor.  Some  ten  years  previous  a  great 
English  company,  The  Prudential  Assurance  Company  of  London, 
had  commenced  the  writing  of  Industrial  insurance,  or  life  insurance 
for  wage-earners,  on  the  weekly-payment  plan,  and  the  progress 
which  had  been  achieved,  in  the  face  of  serious  difficulties,  seemed 
most  promising  for  the  future.  Considerable  publicity  had  been 
given  to  Parliamentary  and  other  discussions  on  this  subject  and  the 
same  had  also  been  referred  to  by  Mr.  Elizur  Wright,  in  the  annual 
reports  of  the  Massachusetts  Insurance  Department. 

Devoting  all  his  spare  time  to  the  study  of  the  available  informa- 
tion, Mr.  Dryden  decided,  after  mature  consideration,  to  thenceforth 
devote  all  of  his  energy  and  ability  to  the  establishment  of  a  similar 


In  Memoriam — John  Fairfield  Dryden 

system  of  life  insurance  in  the  United  States.  Gradually  perfecting 
his  plan,  he  finally  settled  in  Newark,  N.  J.,  in  1873,  provided  with 
letters  of  introduction  to  men  of  affairs  and  large  employers  of  labor, 
who  were  in  a  position  to  extend  to  him  the  best  practical  assistance 
in  the  establishment  of  an  institution  similar  to  the  British  Pruden- 
tial, but  modified  to  meet  the  needs  of  the  American  people.  The 
financial  disturbances  of  the  period,  the  panic  and  long  continued 
business  depression,  including  the  failure  of  many  banks  and  insur- 
ance companies,  naturally  proved  a  serious  disadvantage  at  the  out- 
set. Undaunted,  however,  by  the  difficulties  which  confronted  him, 
Mr.  Dryden  went  ahead  and  successfully  enlisted  the  hearty  co- 
operation of  a  small  group  of  able  men,  among  these  a  young  practic- 
ing physician,  Dr.  Leslie  D.  Ward,  and  Mr.  Noah  F.  Blanchard,  a 
leading  leather  manufacturer. 

After  obtaining  a  charter  from  the  New  Jersey  Legislature,  the 
beginning  was  made  in  the  organization  of  "The  Widows'  and 
Orphans'  Friendly  Society,"  the  name  of  which,  in  1875,  was  changed 
to  "The  Prudential  Friendly  Society."  The  original  intent  was  to 
establish  a  workingmen's  benefit  institution,  comprehending  in  its 
scope  all  of  the  most  important  contingencies  affecting  wage-earners' 
lives,  that  is,  financial  aid  in  the  event  of  sickness,  accident,  or  death, 
and  an  annuity  in  old  age.  Subsequent  experience  proved  that  the 
time  had  not  come  for  the  practical  realization  of  so  ambitious  an 
undertaking,  and  when,  in  1878,  the  name  of  The  Prudential  Friendly 
Society  was  changed  to  "The  Prudential  Insurance  Company  of 
America,"  the  institution  limited  itself  to  the  granting  of  insurance 
of  sums  payable  at  death.  From  the  beginning,  however,  the  under- 
taking had  been  strictly  limited  to  wage-earners'  insurance,  or  In- 
dustrial insurance  on  the  weekly-payment  plan,  with  the  premiums 
collected  from  the  houses  of  the  insured. 

For  reasons  inherent  in  the  life  and  condition  of  those  who  earn 
weekly  salaries  or  wages,  no  other  system  of  voluntary  wage-earners' 
insurance  had  been  successful,  and  it  is  doubtful  whether  a  better 
plan  could  have  been  devised.  The  enormous  success  which  has 
followed  Mr.  Dryden's  efforts  therefore  challenges  the  admiration  of 


In  Memoriam — John  Fairfield  Dryden 

mankind.  The  Prudential  alone  has  nearly  ten  million  Industrial 
policies  in  force,  while  the  aggregate  Industrial  policies  for  all  the 
American  companies  is  nearly  twenty-five  million  policies,  insuring 
nearly  three  and  one-half  billion  dollars  of  protection  for  the  working 
man  and  his  family. 

While  Mr.  Dryden's  original  plan  had  been  to  establish  an  in- 
surance institution  for  the  benefit  of  wage-earners  only,  it  soon  be- 
came apparent  that,  with  increasing  insurance  education  and  the 
persistent  teaching  of  systematic  savings  habits,  the  field  of  life 
insurance  would  be  very  much  broadened,  and  as  early  as  1886 
The  Prudential  commenced  the  issue  of  Ordinary  policies  in  amounts 
of  #1,000  and  over,  with  premiums  payable  quarterly  and  at  longer 
intervals.  Out  of  this  comparatively  recent  beginning  a  very  large 
and  rapidly  growing  Ordinary  business  has  in  course  of  time  developed 
and  on  January  1,  1912,  the  Company  had  over  three  quarters 
of  a  billion  dollars  of  this  kind  of  business  on  its  books.  A  large 
amount  of  this  insurance  is  secured  by  Industrial  agents  and  thus 
the  benefits  of  every  form  of  safe  and  sound  life  insurance  are  brought 
home  to  the  mass  of  the  people  who  are  most  in  need  thereof.  By 
issuing  the  two  forms  of  insurance  through  one  great  institution, 
Mr.  Dryden  secured  for  The  Prudential  a  foremost  position  among 
the  life  insurance  companies  of  the  world,  and  to  himself  enduring 
fame  as  a  master  mind,  produced  by  the  business  of  insurance  in  the 
United  States. 

The  Prudential  now  has  ten  million  policies  in  force  for  two 
billion  dollars  of  Ordinary  and  Industrial  life  insurance. 

When  The  Prudential  was  first  organized,  Mr.  Dryden  was  elected 
secretary,  but  as  early  as  1881,  after  the  death  of  the  President,  Mr. 
Noah  F.  Blanchard,  he  was  unanimously  elected  to  the  Presidency, 
which  he  continuously  held  until  his  death.  While  his  business  life  was 
full  of  labor  in  behalf  of  the  cause  with  which  he  became  so  intimately 
connected,  Mr.  Dryden  was  also  active  in  the  larger  field  of  public 
life,  performing  many  and  varied  responsible  duties.  In  apprecia- 
tion of  his  distinguished  service  he  was  elected  a  Presidential  Elector  in 
1896  and  1900,  and  a  United  States  Senator  on  January  29,  1902. 


In  Memoriam — John  Fairfield  Dryden 

Senator  Dryden's  term  expired  March  4,  1907.  He  was  the  choice 
of  the  voters,  as  a  result  of  the  primary,  for  re-election.  His  health 
breaking  down  during  a  deadlock  made  possible  by  a  narrow  Re- 
publican majority  in  the  New  Jersey  Legislature,  he  yielded  to  the 
advice  of  his  physicians  and  family  and  withdrew  in  favor  of  his 
successor. 

During  his  career  in  the  Senate,  Mr.  Dryden  participated  in  many 
important  matters. 

As  a  member  of  the  Panama  Canal  Committee,  Senator  Dryden 
was  a  potent  factor,  in  co-operation  with  Mr.  Taft,  then  Secretary 
of  War,  in  bringing  about  the  majority  vote  which  finally  resulted  in 
the  legislation  making  possible  the  construction  of  the  international 
waterway  linking  the  two  great  oceans  of  the  world.  The  valuable 
service  rendered  by  him  through  his  speech,  vote  and  influence,  at 
the  crucial  moment,  has  made  its  impress  on  the  country's  history. 

Mr.  Dryden,  in  the  midst  of  an  extremely  busy  life,  from  time  to 
time  contributed  strong  and  well-considered  papers  and  addresses  on 
life  insurance  and  other  subjects,  reprinted  under  that  title  in  book 
form  to  give  permanency  to  his  views  on  principles  and  measures 
vitally  affecting  the  interests  of  the  business  of  insurance.  The 
volume  of  collected  papers  and  addresses  contains  chapters  on  "The 
Inception  and  Early  Problems  of  Industrial  Insurance,"  "The  First 
Quarter  Century  of  Industrial  Insurance  in  the  United  States," 
"The  Social  Economy  of  Industrial  Insurance,"  "The  Practice  of 
Industrial  Insurance,"  "Life  Insurance  as  a  Career,"  "The  Taxation 
of  Life  Insurance,"  "The  Regulation  of  Insurance  by  Congress," 
"The  Commercial  Aspects  of  Federal  Regulation  of  Insurance,"  and 
finally,  "The  American  Type  of  Isthmian  Canal,"  and  a  brief  ad- 
dress on  Abraham  Lincoln  and  Alexander  Hamilton.  The  mere 
titles  of  these  papers  and  addresses  suggest  the  broad  field  of  ques- 
tions and  problems  with  which  Mr.  Dryden  concerned  himself  during 
the  few  leisure  hours  of  an  active  life,  and  they  will  serve  for  all  time 
as  a  most  useful  source  of  information,  suggestion  and  advice  to 
those  who  by  their  own  efforts  aim  to  advance  the  cause  of  sound 
life  insurance  in  America. 


In  Memoriam — John  Fairfield  Dryden 

The  private  life  of  Mr.  Dryden  was  a  most  happy  one  and  of 
quiet,  dignified  simplicity.  He  was  married  in  1864,  to  Miss  Cynthia 
Fairchild,  and  besides  his  widow,  two  children,  Mr.  Forrest  F. 
Dryden,  who  succeeded  his  father  as  President  of  The  Prudential, 
and  Susie  Dryden,  who  married  Col.  Anthony  R.  Kuser,  of  Trenton, 
N.  J.,  survive  him.  President  Forrest  F.  Dryden  has  three  children, 
John  F.  Dryden,  2d,  Dorothy  Dryden,  and  Elizabeth  Butterfield 
Dryden,  and  Mrs.  Kuser  has  two  children,  John  Dryden  Kuser  and 
an  infant  daughter,  Cynthia  Kuser.  Mr.  Dryden  maintained  a 
town  house  in  Newark,  N.  J.,  and  a  beautiful  summer  residence  at 
Bernardsville,  N.  J.  His  art  collection  in  Newark  ranked  as  one  of 
the  most  carefully  selected,  including  a  number  of  very  valuable 
paintings  by  the  masters.  Mr.  Dryden  was  a  member  of  many 
clubs,  including  the  Union  League  Club,  the  New  York  Yacht  Club, 
the  Railroad  Club,  Automobile  Club  of  America,  Metropolitan  Club 
of  Washington,  Essex  Club,  Essex  County  Country  Club  and  Automo- 
bile and  Motor  Club  of  New  Jersey. 

Mr.  Dryden  was  an  officer  in  or  director  of  the  following  corpora- 
tions: The  Prudential  Insurance  Company,  President  and  director; 
Fidelity  Trust  Company,  Newark,  Vice  President  and  director;  Union 
National  Bank,  Newark,  director;  United  States  Steel  Corporation, 
director;  United  States  Casualty  Company,  New  York,  director; 
National  Bank  of  Commerce,  New  York,  director;  Equitable  Trust 
Company,  New  York,  director;  Public  Service  Corporation  of  New 
Jersey,  director. 

He  was  also  a  member  of  the  American  Economic  Association. 

In  his  book, Mr.  Dryden  told  of  the  new  system  of  life  insurance  suc- 
cessfully introduced  by  this  Company  about  three  years  ago,  by  which 
the  payment  of  life  insurance  money  through  the  medium  of  monthly 
income  checks  is  divided  over  the  entire  lifetime  of  the  widow  or 
other  dependents,  rather  than  paying  it  in  one  sum  directly  at  the  death 
of  the  insured.  Mr.  Dryden  believed  that  this  method  of  distribu- 
ting life  insurance  is  directly  in  line  with  the  American  ideal  of  the 
highest  degree  of  economic  independence  in  old  age,  and  that  this  new 
plan  of  his  and  The  Prudential's  marked  an  epoch  in  life  insurance. 


In  Memoriam — John  Fairfield  Dryden 

Of  a  life  so  full  of  worth  and  work,  and  one  which  was  of  so  much 
of  credit  to  the  man  who  lived  it,  it  is  most  fitting  to  quote  the  follow- 
ing beautiful  tribute  written  in  honor  of  the  seventieth  anniversary 
of  the  birth  of  Mr.  Dryden,  in  The  Expositor,  a  Newark  publication : 

"John  F.  Dryden,  at  seventy,  is  a  remarkable  illustration  of 
greatness  arising  out  of  a  long  and  arduous  but  always  determined 
struggle  for  success  in  a  new  and  venturesome  field  of  human  endeavor. 
He  succeeded  because  he  possessed  traits  and  characteristics  which 
have  always  been  a  prerequisite  to  greatness;  above  all,  remarkable 
energy  and  conscientious  application  to  the  details  of  his  daily  life 
and  absolute  intellectual  honesty.  Those  who  have  known  him  best 
through  the  many  years  of  his  active  life  will  agree  that  to  him  may 
truly  be  applied  the  beautiful  words  of  Marcus  Aurelius,  'If  any  man 
can  convince  me  and  bring  home  to  me  the  fact  that  I  do  not  think 
or  act  aright,  gladly  will  I  change;  for  I  search  after  truth,  by  which 
man  never  yet  was  harmed.' 

"More  than  this  could  be  said  in  praise  of  no  man,  nor  of  his  work 
and  the  aims  and  ideals  behind  the  work,  as  the  main  purpose  of  a 
life.  To  have  had  faith  in  a  new  idea  is  not  rare,  for  the  world  is  full 
of  day  dreamers  who  hopelessly  struggle  against  overwhelming  odds. 
But  to  have  had  an  abiding  faith  in  an  almost  hopeless  aim  and  effort 
and  to  have  carried  the  idea,  through  the  years,  against  all  odds,  to  a 
successful  termination,  is  given  to  few  men,  and  of  these  few  John 
F.  Dryden  ranks  foremost  as  a  truly  great  man  of  his  time." 


Official  Announcement  of  Mr.  Dryden's  Death. 

To  the  Field  and  Home  Office  Force  of 

The  Prudential  Insurance  Company  of  America: 

With  profound  sorrow  and  regret  it  becomes  my  painful  duty 
formally  to  announce  the  death  of  Honorable  John  F.  Dryden, 
founder  and  President  of  The  Prudential  Insurance  Company  of 
America. 

His  death  occurred  at  his  residence,  1020  Broad  street,  this  city, 
at  six  o'clock,  Friday  evening,  November  twenty-fourth,  nineteen 
hundred  and  eleven. 

On  Saturday,  November  18th,  the  President  was  compelled  to 
undergo  a  severe  surgical  operation,  from  which  he  rallied  in  an 
encouraging  way  until  Tuesday.  Pneumonia  then  developed,  how- 
ever, and,  in  spite  of  the  use  of  every  agency  known  to  medical  science, 
progressed  until  he  fell  into  a  state  of  coma  and  passed  away  late 
Friday  afternoon,  November  24th. 

In  his  last  illness  President  Dryden  fought  a  battle  that  was 
characteristic  of  his  entire  career.  Every  ounce  of  energy  was 
brought  into  play  and  his  indomitable  will  yielded  only  to  the  in- 
evitable. 

We  are  overwhelmed  by  the  great  calamity  which  has  thus  be- 
fallen us.  In  this  hour  of  Prudential  mourning  it  is  difficult  adequately 
to  express  our  profound  sense  of  sorrow  and  regret.  The  sad  and 
distressing  news  falls  upon  us  all  with  equal  force. 

The  founder  and  leader  in  the  development  of  Industrial  insur- 
ance in  this  country  for  the  benefit  of  the  great  masses,  and  con- 
spicuous among  the  leading  life  insurance  presidents  of  the  world, 
and  having  rendered  honorable  and  valuable  service  in  public  affairs, 
the  loss  is  the  nation's  as  well  as  ours.  His  life  work,  so  well  known 
and  beneficial  to  mankind,  is  a  noble  monument  in  itself  and  will 
shine  like  a  beacon  through  the  mist  of  ages. 


In  Memoriam — John  Fairfield  Dryden 

We  condole  with  you,  as  you  will  with  us.  In  the  memory  of  his 
deeds  of  greatness,  his  nobleness  and  loftiness  of  character,  his  affec- 
tion for  our  loyal  Prudential  workers,  and  in  our  pursuit  of  the  broad- 
minded  and  far-seeing  policies,  which  he  had  so  wisely  outlined  for 
the  "Onward  and  Upward"  future  of  The  Prudential,  we  must,  and 
will,  find  our  solace  and  comfort. 

The  funeral  will  occur  at  three  o'clock  on  Monday,  the  twenty- 
seventh  instant,  at  the  Third  Presbyterian  Church,  this  city.  As  a 
mark  of  respect  to  his  memory  the  Home  Office  will  be  draped  in 
mourning  for  thirty  days  and  will  close  on  the  day  of  the  funeral, 
excepting  such  departments  as  must  be  kept  open  for  legal  reasons. 
It  is  requested  that  the  entire  Field  staff  of  The  Prudential  suspend 
business  operations,  excepting  for  the  attention  to  matters  legally 
necessary,  from  one  until  five  p.  m.  (Eastern  time),  as  a  further 
evidence  of  respect  to  the  memory  of  our  beloved  President. 


Secretary. 

November  25,  1911. 


10 


By  the  Board  of  Directors,  The  Prudential  Insurance 
Company  of  America. 

|N  the  death  of  John  F.  Dryden,  the  founder  of 
this  Company  and  for  thirty  years  its  President, 
the  Company  has  sustained  a  loss  which  no  man 
can  measure  and  no  words  express.  He  not  only 
founded  the  Company,  but  guided  its  policies  and 
led  its  activities  from  the  hour  of  its  birth  until 
the  day  of  his  death.  There  were  other  calls 
upon  his  time,  but  The  Prudential  was  always  his  first  considera- 
tion and  to  it  he  gave  the  best  there  was  in  him.  Whatever  of  suc- 
cess it  has  achieved  or  of  good  it  has  accomplished  is  due  primarily 
to  his  clear  vision,  sound  judgment  and  untiring  zeal. 

In  founding  The  Prudential  Mr.  Dryden's  idea  was  to  bring  the 
benefit  of  life  insurance  to  the  homes  of  the  working  people.  He  had 
been  greatly  moved  by  observing  the  distressing  condition  which 
frequently  obtained  in  those  homes  when  the  working  member  of  the 
family  was  suddenly  taken  away  by  death.  The  plan  had  often  been 
tried  before,  and  in  many  different  ways,  but  had  never  succeeded  in 
this  country.  It  was  left  for  him  to  work  out  a  practical  scheme  and 
to  find  the  men  and  the  money  to  carry  it  out.  This  he  did ;  and  upon 
the  foundation  he  laid,  the  whole  fabric  of  Industrial  insurance  in 
America  rests  to-day.  His  earlier  efforts  were  attended  with  many 
difficulties  and  much  discouragement.  To  a  man  less  sure  of  himself 
and  less  resolute  of  purpose  they  would  probably  have  been  fatal. 
Capital  was  timid  and  friends  lukewarm.  But  serving  at  the  outset 
without  salary  and  operating  in  humble  quarters,  his  expenses  were 
small,  and  in  a  few  years  the  project  became  self-supporting.  With 
its  growth  grew  also  Mr.  Dryden's  conception  of  the  possibilities 
which  his  scheme  involved.  He  started  the  Company  as  the  "Widows 
and  Orphans'  Friendly  Society."     Then  it  became  "The  Prudential 

11 


In  Memoriam — John  Fairfield  Dry  den 

Friendly  Society,"  and  finally  "The  Prudential  Insurance  Company 
of  America. "  Thus  was  evolved  from  small  beginnings  in  the  base- 
ment of  a  Broad  Street  bank  the  magnificent  institution  which  to-day 
challenges  the  respect  and  admiration  of  the  world.  That  so  much 
could  be  accomplished  in  a  single  lifetime  and  by  a  single  individual 
is  truly  marvelous  and  of  itself  stamps  the  author  as  one  of  the  great 
men  of  his  time. 

In  1902  Mr.  Dryden  was  chosen  to  represent  the  State  of  New 
Jersey  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States.  In  the  discharge  of  his 
duties  in  that  high  office  he  displayed  the  same  breadth  of  view  and 
the  same  keenness  of  intellect  which  marked  his  administration  of 
this  Company's  affairs.  In  securing  the  enactment  of  legislation 
requisite  for  the  speedy  construction  of  the  Panama  canal  he  left  a 
permanent  imprint  upon  the  country's  history.  In  his  death  the 
State  and  Nation  have  lost  a  citizen  and  public  servant  of  the  first 
order. 

In  his  personal  intercourse  Mr.  Dryden  was  the  personification  of 
gentlemanly  courtesy.  This  he  constantly  exhibited  toward  the 
members  of  the  Board  and,  in  even  a  more  marked  degree,  toward 
the  employees  of  the  Company.  How  the  latter  responded  to  it  is 
shown  by  a  record  of  devoted  service  rarely  equaled  and  probably 
never  excelled. 

In  his  private  life  and  family  relations  Mr.  Dryden's  character 
shone  with  peculiar  lustre.  Kindness,  gentleness  and  consideration 
for  others  were  observable  in  everything  he  said  and  everything  he  did. 
His  conversation  was  pure,  his  ideals  high  and  his  judgment  just. 
No  one  could  associate  with  him  without  being  the  better  for  it  and 
no  one  having  that  privilege  but  feels  a  deep  sense  of  personal  loss. 

Resolved,  That  the  foregoing  be  spread  upon  the  minutes  of  this 
Board  as  a  permanent  testimonial  to  the  memory  of  Mr.  Dryden; 
that  a  copy  of  the  same  be  given  to  the  press  and  another  copy,  suit- 
ably engrossed,  be  sent  to  his  family. 


12 


Distinguished  Men  Paid  Tribute  at  the  Funeral  of 
Former  President  Dryden 

JHE  funeral  took  place  on  Monday,  November  27th,  at  the  Third 
Presbyterian  Church,  Newark,  and  while  plain,  simple  and  unos- 
tentatious, was  deeply  impressive  and  was  attended  by  a  vast 
number  of  citizens  and  a  host  of  distinguished  people,  many  of 
national  and  even  international  fame.  Every  phase  of  distin- 
guished leadership  in  all  branches  of  the  world's  activity  was 
represented  in  the  honorary  pallbearers.  Headed  by  J.  Pierpont 
Morgan  and  Richard  V.  Lindabury,  general  counsel  for  The  Pru- 
dential and  the  United  States  Steel  Corporation,  the  column  of  pallbearers,  march- 
ing two  by  two,  numbered  the  following: 

Chief  Justice  William  S.  Gummere,  of  the  New  Jersey  Supreme  Court;  former 
Governor  Franklin  Murphy,  former  United  States  Senator  James  Smith,  Jr.,  Judge 
Elbert  H.  Gary,  head  of  the  United  States  Steel  Corporation;  George  W.  Perkins, 
financier;  Haley  Fiske,  Vice  President  of  the  Metropolitan  Life  Insurance  Company; 
Wilbur  S.  Johnson,  fourth  vice-president  and  comptroller  of  the  Prudential;  Dr. 
Edward  J.  Ill,  who  was  a  long-time  friend  of  Senator  Dryden  and  attended  him  in 
his  last  illness ;  Uzal  H.  McCarter,  president  of  the  Fidelity  Trust  Company ;  Thomas 
N.  McCarter,  president  of  the  Public  Service  Corporation;  Edgar  B.  Ward,  a  former 
vice-president  of  the  Prudential;  John  Dalzell,  former  member  of  Congress  from 
Pennsylvania;  Moses  Taylor  Pyne,  head  of  the  board  of  trustees  of  Princeton  Uni- 
versity; Dean  Andrew  S.  West,  head  of  the  faculty  of  Princeton  University;  Com- 
modore E.  C.  Benedict,  who  was  a  close  friend  and  hunting  and  yachting  companion 
of  the  late  President  Grover  Cleveland,  and  who  was  associated  with  Mr.  Dryden 
in  the  Cleveland  memorial  project,  and  is  representative  of  large  banking  interests; 
Frederick  Frelinghuysen,  president  of  the  Mutual  Benefit  Life  Insurance  Company; 
George  B.  Post,  designer  and  architect-in-chief  of  the  Prudential  buildings;  J.  Wil- 
liam Clark,  of  the  Clark  Thread  Company;  William  Scheerer,  president  of  the  Union 
National  Bank;  Charles  Bradley,  of  the  Ballantine  Brewing  Company;  William  T. 
Carter,  manufacturing  jeweler  and  neighbor  and  friend  of  Senator  Dryden,  and 
Edward  Kanouse,  treasurer  of  the  Prudential  Company. 

The  floral  tributes  were  most  elaborate,  covering  the  entire  front  of  the  church, 
and  thousands  paid  tribute  to  his  memory. 


Tribute  Paid  to  Mr.  Dryden  by  Rev.  John  T.  Reeve,  Officiating 
Clergyman  at  the  Funeral. 

"John  F.  Dryden  was  a  man  whose  character  was  built  on  solid  foundations. 
Whatever  he  did  he  did  well.  Whether  it  was  the  development  of  a  great  business 
or  the  improvement  of  his  place  or  the  building  of  a  wall,  he  did  it  thoroughly. 

"And  so  it  was  in  the  development  of  his  character.  He  did  it  well.  His 
was  a  life  well  lived.  One  could  easily  tell  by  the  slightest  contact  with  him,  by  the 
look  of  his  eye,  by  the  shake  of  his  hand,  that  he  was  a  man  who  was  careful  what 
he  thought,  what  he  said  and  what  he  did. 

13 


In  Memoriam — John  Fairfield  Dryden 

"He  was  a  man  of  unimpeachable  character.  It  would  be  difficult  to  find  any 
flaw  in  him.  He  was  singularly  free  from  the  common  faults  of  men.  Of  course, 
he  must  have  had  his  weaknesses  and  faults,  as  all  men  have,  but  they  were  few  and 
hard  to  find. 

"Just  as  in  his  remarkable  business  career  one  can  easily  see  the  marks  of 
accuracy,  thoroughness,  industry,  and  a  definite  purpose,  so  in  his  own  personal 
life  there  stand  out  plainly  certain  great  elemental  principles.  For  example,  there 
was  his  unusual  devotion  to  his  home  and  loved  ones.  Most  men  love  their  families, 
but  here  was  a  man  whose  devotion,  while  unostentatious,  one  could  almost  feel  as 
well  as  see. 

"Then  there  was  his  simplicity.  He  was  a  man  of  the  most  simple  tastes  and 
habits.  Though  the  head  of  vast  financial  interests  and  the  possessor  of  beautiful 
homes,  you  could  not  help  but  feel  in  his  presence  that  he  was  a  simple  man.  It 
was  the  simplicity  of  greatness. 

"He  was  a  sympathetic  man.  He  felt  for  his  fellow  men.  He  entered  deeply 
and  earnestly  into  the  consideration  of  any  matter  that  was  laid  before  him.  If  he 
knew  of  a  case  of  suffering  and  real  need  he  was  not  only  ready  to  assist,  but  it 
caused  him  pain.  It  touched  his  heart  to  think  that  in  a  beautiful  country  like 
that  in  which  he  lived  there  were  those  who  lacked  care  or  who  suffered  for  the 
necessities  of  daily  life. 

"  But  chief  of  all  he  was  a  man  of  remarkable  courtesy.  His  was  not  the  courtesy 
only  of  a  well-mannered  man,  a  man  of  the  world,  but  more  that  of  a  Christian  gen- 
tleman. It  was  not  that  of  a  man  whose  mind  was  absorbed  in  the  cares  of  a  great 
business.     It  was  not  cold  or  perfunctory.     It  was  warm  and  kindly  and  earnest. 

"  In  the  passing  of  John  F.  Dryden  we  lose  a  great  character,  a  noble  man." 


14 


Tribute  by  the  President  of  the  United  States. 

President  Taft  was  deeply  shocked  when  he  learned  of  Mr.  Dryden's  death.  In 
speaking  of  his  relationship  with  the  late  head  of  the  Prudential  Insurance  Company 
the  President  said : 

"  Senator  Dryden  was  a  friend  of  mine.  I  knew  him  closely  in  connection  with 
the  Panama  Canal  administration,  when  I  was  Secretary  of  War  and  he  was  a 
member  of  the  Panama  Canal  Committee  of  the  Senate. 

"I  have  never  met  a  more  conscientious,  earnest  and  hard-working  legislator 
than  he  was  in  a  work  of  that  kind,  and  which,  with  his  large  experience,  he  so 
thoroughly  understood.     I  am  very  sorry  to  hear  of  his  death." 

Tributes  to  President  Dryden  from  City,  State  and  Nation. 

"I  am  deeply  grieved  by  news  of  the  death.  Mrs.  Sherman  joins  me  in  offering 
sincere  and  tender  sympathy." — /.  S.  Sherman,  Vice  President  of  the  United  States. 

"I  beg  to  express  my  deepest  sympathy  for  the  family  on  the  death  of  Senator 
Dryden.     I  had  great  respect  and  affectionate  regard  for  him." 

— E.  H.  Gary,  U.  S.  Steel  Corporation. 

"Mrs.  Cortelyou  joins  me  in  deep  sympathy  with  you  in  your  great  sorrow." 

— George  B.  Cortelyou,  ex-Secretary  U.  S.  Treasury. 

"  Please  accept  our  deep  sympathy  in  your  great  grief." 

— Theodore  and  Mrs.  Edith  Roosevelt. 

"Mrs.  Fairbanks  joins  me  in  sending  you  profound  sympathy  in  the  great  sorrow 
which  has  come  to  you.     Senator  Dryden  was  a  friend  we  greatly  esteemed." 

— Charles  W.  Fairbanks,  former  Vice  President  United  States. 

"The  class  of  Yale  '65  tenders  its  sincere  sympathy  for  yourself  and  family  in 
the  loss  of  their  beloved  classmate." — W.  C.  Duyckinck,  Class  Secretary. 

"Accept  my  sincere  sympathy  in  your  great  sorrow;  the  world  loses  a  noble 
example  and  I  a  much  cherished  friend." — E.  C.  Benedict. 

"I  send  my  heartfelt  sympathy  in  this  hour  of  your  bereavement.  New 
Jersey  has  lost  a  good  and  great  man." — E.  C.  Stokes,  ex-Governor  of  New  Jersey. 

"He  was  a  great  man  and  one  of  Nature's  noblemen." 

— /.  Franklin  Fort,  ex-Governor  of  New  Jersey. 

"A  pillar  of  the  State  has  fallen;  a  really  great  man  has  passed  away.  Such  men 
as  he  are  the  geniuses  of  States  and  nations.  They  are  creators  and  benefactors. 
We  cannot  too  highly  honor  the  memory  of  this  remarkable  man,  who  so  signally 
honored  his  city,  State  and  country." 

— Former  U.  S.  Senator  James  Smith,  New  Jersey. 

IS 


In  Memoriam — John  Fairfield  Dryden 

"No  man  in  the  history  of  the  State  has  done  more  for  its  material  advancement 
than  he  who  has  been  taken  away." 

— Wm.  S.  Gummere,  Chief  Justice,  Supreme  Court,  New  Jersey. 

"Senator  Dryden  was  the  greatest  man  Newark  ever  had." 

— Jacob  Haussling,  Mayor,  Newark,  N.  J. 

Telegrams  and  letters  of  regret  for  the  death  of  Mr.  Dryden  were  received  from 
United  States  Senator  Frank  0.  Briggs,  of  New  Jersey;  Senator  Wetmore,  of  Rhode 
Island;  Congressman  Ira  Wood,  of  New  Jersey;  Postmaster-General  Hitchcock, 
State  Banking  and  Insurance  Commissioner  Vivian  M.  Lewis,  General  William  C. 
Heppenheimer,  former  United  States  Senator  John  Kean,  S.  D.  Warfield,  of  Balti- 
more; Mrs.  Russell  Alger,  George  W.  Perkins,  Miss  Boardman,  of  Washington, 
head  of  the  Red  Cross  Society;  Colonel  and  Mrs.  MacAuley,  of  Washington;  and 
Major-General  and  Mrs.  Gillespie,  of  Washington. 


16 


Resolutions. 

HE  Board  of  Directors  of 

Fidelity  Trust  Company 

especially  convened  to  take  action  upon  the  death  of  Honorable 
John  Fairfield  Dryden,  in  his  lifetime  a  member  thereof,  records 
the  following  minute: 

The  sad  announcement  of  the  death  of  our  revered  friend  and 
associate,  Honorable  John  Fairfield  Dryden,  awakens  emotions 
which  we  cannot  express  by  words. 

During  all  the  years  of  our  official  connection  with  this  institution  he  has 
been  in  our  councils  the  senior  whose  words  of  wisdom  have  been  potent  factors  in 
the  settlement  of  the  important  matters  confided  to  our  discretion. 

He  was  richly  endowed  by  nature  with  an  intellect  of  wonderful  power  and 
keenly  analytical.  His  untiring  application  to  great  problems  so  developed  the 
natural  power  of  his  mind  and  quickened  his  penetration  that  he  was  able  to  solve 
the  involved  questions  of  financial  policy  with  splendid  success. 

Comprehensively  grasping  all  phases  of  every  complicated  situation,  distinguish- 
ing their  relative  importance,  assigning  to  each  its  proper  place  and  utilizing  it  to  its 
best  advantage,  his  mind  reached  with  confidence  conclusions  whose  wisdom  was 
proven  by  the  results  of  their  adoption. 

He  addressed  his  consummate  powers  not  alone  to  difficulties  presented,  but  to 
the  creation  of  policies  of  construction  which,  avoiding  difficulty,  should  rear 
systems  enduring  to  the  benefit  of  mankind. 

The  noble  qualities  of  his  intellect,  his  courtly  dignity,  the  manner  of  a  master 
mind,  the  grace  and  strength  of  his  diction  in  expression  of  his  well-considered 
views  made  his  participation  a  dominating  influence  in  any  deliberative  body. 

While  conscious  of  his  powers,  he  was  withal  so  unassuming  and  cordial,  so 
helpful  and  sympathetic,  so  fond  of  his  friends,  that  his  personality  possessed  a 
charm  which  was  as  impressive  as  it  was  delightful. 

We  lay  our  tribute  of  reverend  affection  upon  his  bier,  profoundly  impressed  with 
the  sad  consciousness  of  appalling  loss,  not  only  to  us,  his  friends  and  associates, 
but  to  our  city,  enriched  by  that  great  institution  which  will  stand  an  enduring 
monument  to  his  genius;  our  State,  of  which  he  was  a  most  conspicuous  and  dis- 
tinguished citizen;  our  nation,  in  whose  highest  council  he  took  so  honored  part  and 
whose  citizens  have  participated  and  throughout  all  generations  will  participate  in 
the  benefits  of  his  noble  work. 

Resolved,  That  this  minute  be  spread  at  length  upon  the  minute  book  of  the 
company;  that  it  be  published  in  two  newspapers  printed  in  the  city  of  Newark,  and 
that  an  engrossed  copy  be  sent  to  his  family,  to  whom  we  express  our  sincerest 
sympathy. 

Union  National  Bank. 

At  a  special  meeting  of  the  board  of  directors  of  Union  National  Bank,  held  on 
the  twenty-eighth  day  of  November,  nineteen  hundred  and  eleven,  the  following 
resolutions  were  adopted: 

17 


In  Memoriam — John  Fairfield  Dryden 

The  members  of  the  Board  of  Directors  have  learned  with  deepest  and  most 
profound  sorrow  of  the  sudden  death  of  Honorable  John  Fairfield  Dryden,  who 
has  been  an  active  and  very  highly  esteemed  director  since  the  organization  of  the 
bank,  to  which  his  very  valuable  services  have  always  been  freely  given. 

Most  fortunate  for  the  city  of  Newark  was  the  day  when  he  chose  to  make  it  his 
home  and  the  centre  of  his  life  work.  Influenced  by  the  expansion  of  his  great 
plans,  the  city  has  become  a  strong  financial  centre,  and  the  future  results  to  be 
produced  from  the  foundations  that  he  has  laid  will  be  difficult  to  compute. 

From  the  first  he  showed  his  great  faith  in  the  future  of  Newark,  and  with 
unremitting  zeal  led  in  extending  the  name  and  fame  of  this  city  throughout 
the  land. 

In  the  many  large  and  important  institutions  with  which  he  was  connected 
in  this  and  other  cities,  his  consummate  ability,  ripe  business  judgment,  and 
financial  genius  made  his  name  a  tower  of  strength. 

From  a  modest  beginning,  with  a  new  and  untried  enterprise,  after  surmount- 
ing serious  obstacles,  he  has  with  signal  ability,  unfailing  energy  and  sublime 
courage  conducted  his  institution  to  a  magnificent  success  which,  while  carrying 
blessings  to  thousands  of  homes,  has  been  placed  among  the  great  and  permanent 
organizations  of  the  world  for  the  good  of  humanity. 

His  wonderfully  constructive  mind,  forceful  ability  and  devoted  patriotism 
accomplished  most  important  results  for  his  country  at  the  national  Capital, 
influencing,  among  other  questions,  vital  decisions  regarding  the  Panama  Canal. 

Mr.  Dryden's  power  of  great  leadership  was  shown  also  in  his  warm  friendship 
for  and  sympathetic  interest  with  the  many  thousands  of  his  staff  of  workers,  who 
were  greatly  attached  to  him  and  rendered  loyal  and  devoted  service. 

The  love  and  devotion  that  he  showed  in  his  home  were  reflected  in  his  dealings 
with  all  with  whom  he  came  in  contact,  and  his  charming  courtesy,  loyal  friendship, 
unaffected  dignity,  and  rare  wisdom  proclaimed  him  as  one  of  Nature's  noblemen, 
and  those  who  knew  him  best  loved  him  most. 

The  city  has  been  bereft  of  its  foremost  citizen  and  a  leader  in  civic  and  national 
movements. 

The  State  and  nation  of  a  gifted  and  patriotic  supporter,  and  a  host  of  his 
devoted  friends  have  suffered  an  almost  irreparable  loss. 

We  wish  to  extend  our  most  sincere  sympathy  to  his  bereaved  family. 

Resolved,  That  these  resolutions  be  recorded  in  our  minutes,  and  published  in 
the  daily  press,  and  that  an  engrossed  copy  be  sent  to  his  family. 


The  Board  of  Directors  of  the 

Public  Service  Corporation  of  New  Jersey, 

assembled  in  special  meeting  this  twenty-eighth  day  of  November,  nineteen  hundred 
and  eleven,  to  take  action  upon  the  death  of  their  associate,  John  F.  Dryden,  direct 
the  following  minute  to  be  spread  upon  the  records  of  the  corporation,  and  a  copy 
thereof  published  in  the  newspapers  of  the  city  of  Newark,  and  an  engrossed  copy 
thereof  sent  to  his  family: 

Mr.  Dryden,  whose  active  mind  was  ever  alert  for  the  development  of  his  city 
and  State,  was  one  of  the  original  organizers  of  this  corporation.  He  clearly  fore- 
saw the  development  of  the  State  which  would  follow  the  concentration  of  the  major 
portion  of  its  public  utilities  in  one  organization,  having  proper  financial  backing. 

18 


In  Memoriam — John  Fairfield  Dryden 

He  believed  that  no  such  results  could  be  realized  from  their  continued  operation  as 
separate  entities,  many  of  them  without  the  necessary  resources  for  their  proper 
development.     From  this  position  he  never  swerved. 

He  had  been  a  director  and  large  stockholder  of  the  corporation  from  the  date 
of  its  organization  to  the  day  of  his  death.  He  was  regular  in  his  attendance  at  the 
meetings  of  the  board,  and  gave  freely  of  his  time  to  conferences  with  the  officers 
of  the  corporation,  apart  from  board  meetings.  His  courtesy  was  unfailing;  his 
judgment  was  ripe  and  conservative;  his  advice  was  the  best  that  New  Jersey  could 
afford.  His  death  is  the  tenth  among  those  who  have,  at  one  time  or  another,  been 
directors  of  the  corporation  since  its  formation  eight  and  one-half  years  ago. 

May  those  who  are  left  to  carry  on  the  work  profit  by  his  experience  and  ex- 
ample. 


At  a  regular  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Directors  of  the 

National  Bank  of  Commerce  in  New  York, 

held  on  Wednesday,  the  sixth  day  of  December,  nineteen  hundred  and  eleven,  the 
President  announced  the  death  on  November  twenty-fourth,  nineteen  hundred  and 
eleven,  of  the  Honorable  John  F.  Dryden. 

Whereupon  the  following  resolutions  were  adopted : 

Resolved,  That  in  the  death  of  our  esteemed  friend  and  Director,  the  Honorable 
John  F.  Dryden,  we  recognize  the  loss  of  a  wise  counselor,  an  unwavering  advocate 
and  supporter  of  the  best  interests  of  this  Bank,  a  courteous  gentleman  with  whom 
it  was  a  pleasure  to  be  associated,  who  was  always  loyal  and  devoted  to  the  interests 
under  his  care,  and  who  brought  to  their  support  an  exalted  character  and  a  judg- 
ment ripened  by  experience. 

Resolved,  That  we  shall  cherish  with  sincere  and  lasting  appreciation  the  good 
record  which  he  has  left  and  that  we  tender  to  his  bereaved  family  a  sympathy 
born  of  our  high  estimation  of  his  honorable  character  and  great  worth. 

Resolved,  That  the  foregoing  resolutions  be  entered  upon  the  minutes  of  this 
Bank  and  that  a  copy  be  forwarded  to  Senator's  Dryden's  family,  duly  attested 
by  the  officers  of  this  Bank. 


At  a  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of 

The  Equitable  Trust  Company  of  New  York, 

held  December  twentieth,  one  thousand  nine  hundred  and  eleven,  the  following 
resolutions  were  unanimously  adopted: 

Resolved,  That  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  The  Equitable  Trust  Company  of  New 
York  record  with  deep  sorrow  the  death  of  John  Fairfield  Dryden,  for  nine  years 
a  trustee  of  this  Company.  In  his  death  this  Company  has  lost  an  intelligent  and 
conscientious  adviser  and  the  members  of  this  Board  a  loyal  friend  and  valued 
associate. 

Resolved,  That  this  tribute  to  the  memory  of  our  late  associate  be  inscribed 
upon  the  minutes  of  the  Company  and  that  an  engrossed  copy  be  transmitted  to 
his  family,  to  whom  the  members  of  the  Board  tender  an  expression  of  their  sincere 
sympathy. 

19 


In  Memoriam — John  Fairfield  Dryden 

By  unanimous  vote  of  the  Board  of  Directors  of  the 

United  States  Steel  Corporation 

at  a  regular  meeting  held  January  30,  1912,  the  following  minute  was  adopted 
and  ordered  spread  upon  the  records: 

Whereas,  for  a  number  of  years  before  his  death  the  Honorable  John  F.  Dryden 
was  a  member  of  this  Board  and  took  an  active  part  in  its  deliberations;  and 

Whereas,  in  said  service  he  uniformly  exhibited  sound  business  judgment,  keen 
perception  and  unwavering  devotion  to  the  interests  of  the  corporation,  accompa- 
nied with  such  courtesy,  gentleness  of  manner  and  consideration  for  the  opinions 
of  others  as  made  service  with  him  a  constant  pleasure;  and 

Whereas,  the  same  characteristics  which  he  exhibited  in  his  service  on  this  Board 
were  shown  by  Mr.  Dryden  in  all  his  business  relations  and  in  the  public  service 
and  resulted  in  accomplishments  so  notable,  lasting  and  beneficial  to  the  business 
interests  of  the  country  as  to  entitle  his  name  to  a  place  among  the  constructive 
men  of  his  time;  therefore,  be  it 

Resolved,  That  a  minute  be  made  in  the  permanent  records  of  this  Board  in 
testimony  of  our  appreciation  of  the  life  and  character  of  Mr.  Dryden  and  of  his 
services  to  this  Company  while  a  member  of  its  Board  of  Directors. 


Resolutions  adopted  at  a  regular  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the 
United  States  Casualty  Company, 

held  on  Thursday,  January  18,  1912: 

Whereas,  John  F.  Dryden,  whose  lamented  death  occurred  on  the  24th  day 
of  November,  1911,  was  an  insurance  underwriter  of  great  originality,  distinction 
and  success,  had  served  with  ability,  fidelity  and  credit  in  the  United  States  Senate, 
and  was  an  honored  member  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  United  States  Casualty 
Company  from  its  foundation;  and 

Whereas,  we,  his  fellow  members  of  the  Board,  have  had  for  many  years  the 
benefit  of  his  wide  experience  and  timely  counsels  in  matters  vitally  relating  to  the 
interests  of  this  Company,  and  have  always  found  him  to  be  a  courteous  gentleman, 
a  faithful  friend  and  a  wise  and  devoted  counselor; 

Now  be  it  unanimously 

Resolved,  That  we  hereby  express  the  deep  sense  of  loss  which  this  Company, 
its  Board  of  Trustees,  and  we  as  individuals  have  suffered  by  his  death.  And  be  it 
further 

Resolved,  That  these  resolutions  be  spread  in  full  upon  the  minutes  and  that  a 
copy  thereof  be  furnished  to  the  press. 


At  this  first  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of 

The  Cleveland  Monument  Association 

since  the  passing  away  on  November  24th,  last,  of  our  distinguished  president  and 
associate  John  F.  Dryden  it  is  fitting  that  we  should  record  a  minute  expressing 
our  appreciation  of  the  work  he  did  for  this  Association  and  our  sorrow  at  his  loss. 

20 


In  Memoriam — John  Fairfield  Dryden 

To  Mr.  Dryden  more  than  to  any  other  man  the  public  are  under  obligations 
for  the  successful  fruition  of  the  project  of  raising  a  fund  for  the  erection  of  a  suitable 
monument  to  commemorate  the  life  and  deeds  of  Grover  Cleveland. 

Although  a  distinguished  and  active  member  of  the  political  party  opposed  to 
that  to  which  Mr.  Cleveland  belonged,  Mr.  Dryden  recognized  that  Mr.  Cleveland's 
public  services  were  of  great  and  lasting  benefit  to  his  country  and  that  his  simple 
and  rugged  character  was  a  fit  example  to  coming  generations.  Inspired  by  this 
view,  with  patriotic  fervor,  Mr.  Dryden  accepted  the  leadership  of  the  movement 
looking  to  the  erection  of  the  Cleveland  Memorial  and  through  his  wise  generalship 
and  characteristic  business  acumen  the  work  of  raising  the  necessary  funds  was 
consummated  in  a  remarkably  short  time  and  reached  results  beyond  what  was 
originally  contemplated  or  expected. 

In  memory  of  this,  one  of  the  last  of  the  many  distinguished  and  successful 
undertakings  of  Mr.  Dryden,  and  in  testimony  of  our  high  esteem  for  him  as  a  man, 
our  affection  for  him  as  an  associate  and  friend  and  our  sorrow  at  his  departure,  we 
record  this  minute  in  our  permanent  records  and  direct  that  an  engrossed  copy 
thereof  be  deposited  in  the  archives  of  the  Cleveland  Memorial  Tower  and  that 
another  copy  be  sent  to  the  members  of  his  family. 


At  the  fifth  annual  meeting  of  the 

Association  of  Life  Insurance  Presidents, 

held  at  the  Hotel  Astor,  New  York,  December  13,  1911,  the  following  eulogy  of  the 
late  President  Dryden  was  made  by  Richard  V.  Lindabury: 

[The  Chairman]  Gentlemen:  The  tribute  to  our  departed  comrade,  John  F. 
Dryden,  will  be  paid  by  one  than  whom  none  could  be  more  eminently  fitted.  For 
many  years  he  enjoyed  Mr.  Dryden's  fullest  confidence — in  his  capacity  as  counsel 
for  The  Prudential,  as  his  personal  adviser  and  as  one  of  the  directors  of  that  notable 
company. 

Standing  at  the  head  of  the  New  Jersey  Bar,  and  one  of  the  most  eminent  jurists 
of  our  country,  a  keen  student  of  men  and  of  affairs,  he  is  especially  well  equipped 
to  appraise  the  life  and  work,  the  character  and  career,  of  The  Prudential's  late 
President. 

Gentlemen,  permit  me  to  introduce  to  you  Mr.  Richard  V.  Lindabury,  of  New 
Jersey. 

Mr.  Lindabury  spoke  as  follows: 

Mr.  Chairman,  gentlemen,  I  wish  I  were  as  well  qualified  to  do  justice  to  the 
memory  of  John  F.  Dryden  as  your  Chairman  has  declared.  I  am  not  for  various 
reasons.  His  death  was  so  recent  that  his  friends,  of  whom  I  am  glad  to  be  counted 
one,  yet  feel  the  stunning  effect  of  their  sudden  bereavement.  And  besides  that, 
with  my  limited  capacity  and  utter  absence  of  time  for  preparation,  I  feel  that  I 
can  not,  at  least  now,  do  justice  to  this  subject. 

I  could  not,  however,  having  regard  to  my  affection  for  the  man  and  respect 
for  the  urgent  request  of  your  president,  refrain  from  coming  here  to-day  and  before 
his  friends  and  mine  saying  a  word  at  least  in  appreciation  of  his  life  and  work. 

I  saw  the  personal  side  of  Mr.  Dryden  during  the  last  few  years  of  his  life  quite 
closely.    Many  of  you  also  saw  it  more  or  less.    To  me,  to  you,  it  was  a  lovely 

21 


In  Memoriam — John  Fairfield  Dryden 

spectacle.  I  never  saw  more  of  grace,  more  of  dignity,  more  of  kindly  courtesy 
and  consideration  for  others  than  Mr.  Dryden  uniformly  exhibited.  In  his  own 
family,  in  his  company,  among  his  directors,  when  meeting  his  employees,  every- 
where and  always,  there  was  that  same  dignity  and  beautiful  exhibition  of  manhood 
and  kindly  disposition. 

Of  Mr.  Dryden's  achievements  you  know  pretty  nearly  as  much  as  I.  He  had 
many  interests,  to  all  of  which  he  gave  the  attention  that  his  undertaking  of  them 
required  of  him.  He  was  most  methodical  in  his  habits  and  conserved  his  time  in 
such  way  that  he  always  found  time  to  do  the  thing  at  hand,  whatsoever  it  was, 
faithfully  and  well.  Not  only  into  the  affairs  of  The  Prudential,  but  into  those  of 
various  other  large  associations,  Mr.  Dryden  entered  with  keen  foresight  and  sound 
judgment,  and  made  a  mark  that  will  be  remembered  by  those  who  were  interested 
with  him. 

In  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  all  of  us  know,  but  none  so  well  as  those  who 
were  there  associated  with  him,  the  excellent  work  that  Mr.  Dryden  did;  the  faithful- 
ness with  which,  privately  as  well  as  in  public,  he  put  himself  to  the  task  that  he  had 
undertaken,  and  did  the  work  that  was  intrusted  to  him.  His  service  on  the 
committee  having  the  interests  of  the  Panama  Canal  in  charge  will  link  his  name 
for  all  time  with  that  great  enterprise.  And  I  am  told  by  those  who  worked  with 
him  there  that  no  more  honest,  intelligent,  faithful  or  useful  member  of  that  body 
had  served  in  it  during  their  time. 

But,  of  course,  Mr.  Dryden's  great  work  was  in  the  founding  and  upbuilding 
of  The  Prudential  Insurance  Company  of  America.  He  started  that  with  no 
specially  favoring  circumstances.  He  never  was  a  man  of  robust  health,  and,  as 
you  know,  he  was  unable  to  complete  his  college  course  because  of  a  sickness  from 
which  he  did  not  recover  in  time  to  enable  him  to  do  so.  That  weakness  was  con- 
stitutional and  it  attended  him  throughout  life,  but  yet  by  conserving  the  strength 
that  he  did  have  and  husbanding  the  physical  resources  that  were  left  to  him  he 
was  able  to  the  end  to  do  a  man's  work  and  perform  a  man's  task  in  such  work; 
and  that  fact  is  worth  something  to  all  of  us,  worth  remembering  by  those  of  us 
who  have  strength  and  those  of  us  who  have  not,  but  who  are  undertaking  to  do 
our  part  of  the  world's  work. 

Mr.  Dryden  was  without  friends  who  could  aid  him  or  capital  which  could 
support  his  scheme,  but  nevertheless,  with  a  resolute  purpose,  and  after  that  close 
study  and  severe  thought  which  was  characteristic  of  him,  in  1875  he  launched  his 
enterprise  in  the  basement  of  a  bank  on  Broad  street  in  the  City  of  Newark,  and 
baptized  it  "The  Widows'  and  Orphans*  Friendly  Society."  The  enterprise  was  an 
unpromising  one.  The  discouragements  that  attended  its  opening  years  would 
have  been  fatal  to  a  man  less  sure  of  himself  or  less  resolute  of  purpose  than  John  F. 
Dryden.  But  he  had  thought  the  thing  through  before  he  began  it.  He  did  not 
start  off  in  a  hurry  when  the  conception  first  took  possession  of  him,  but  by  years  of 
close  study  he  anticipated  all  that  was  involved  in  his  plan  and  thought  out  the  way 
to  meet  and  overcome  the  difficulties  that  were  likely  to  be  encountered;  and  there- 
fore it  was  that  discouragements  which  might  have  overcome  other  men  did  not 
affect  him.  He  started  in  an  inexpensive  way,  and  without  any  salary  for  himself, 
and  so  weathered  the  bad  days  in  the  beginning,  and  it  was  only  for  a  few  years  that 
the  concern  was  not  self-supporting.  It  became  so  about  1878  or  1879,  and  pres- 
ently the  name  was  changed  to  The  Prudential  Friendly  Society. 

22 


In  Memoriam — John  Fairfield  Dryden 

By  that  time  its  growth  and  promise  were  apparent,  and  Mr.  Dryden's  original 
idea  grew  along  with  it,  and  finally  it  became  The  Prudential  Insurance  Company 
of  America  under  his  direction,  in  the  development  of  his  idea,  and  through  his 
consummate  guidance  and  leadership.  From  that  small  beginning,  in  that  quiet 
and  obscure  cellar,  has  Ideveloped  the  great  institution  which  you  know  to-day 
and  which  is  known  all  over  the  world. 

That  development  as  well  as  that  conception  is  the  work  of  the  man  whose 
memory  just  now  is  receiving  our  thought  and  tribute.  It  was  the  work  of  a 
thoughtful  man.  It  was  the  work  not  of  a  strong  man  physically,  not  of  a  man  with 
pecuniary  resources,  not  of  a  man  with  supporting  friends,  but  of  a  man  without 
any  of  these  things,  who  nevertheless  was  possessed  of  what  was  of  more  account 
than  any  of  them — a  clear  judgment,  a  resolute  purpose  and  an  unconquerable 
disposition  to  go  on  when  he  knew  he  was  right,  and  after  he  had  seen  he  was  right 
until  the  goal  was  reached.  It  was  also  the  work  of  a  man  who  had  cultivated  the 
science  of  business  and,  what  is  necessarily  included  therein,  the  management  of 
men. 

I  never  knew  any  one  who  excelled  Mr.  Dryden  in  the  latter  quality.  His  fine 
conception,  his  indomitable  will,  would  have  gone  for  nothing  if  he  had  not  been  able 
to  command  and  lead  the  services  of  others. 

I  do  not  need  to  say  to  this  audience  how  utterly  futile  it  would  be  to  attempt 
to  establish  a  large  insurance  business  if  you  did  not  know  how  to  organize  and  lead 
a  force  of  agents  in  the  field;  and  there  Mr.  Dryden  showed  his  consummate  ability. 
He  managed  and  led  the  great  force  of  The  Prudential  by  kind  and  gentle  ways, 
by  showing  to  them  that  they  could  always  trust  to  what  he  told  them;  by  creating 
in  their  minds  a  feeling  that  he  would  never  deceive  them;  by  correcting  their  faults, 
disciplining  their  failings,  but  privately  and  not  publicly,  gently  but  not  harshly, 
with  a  result  that  the  disciplined  servants  became  the  loyal  friends  and  hardest 
workers  of  the  force. 

That  was  the  way  that  John  F.  Dryden  created  an  organization  which,  for 
loyalty  and  efficiency,  probably  has  never  been  exceeded.  I  think  it  was  a  beautiful 
thing  when  without  his  knowledge  that  great  agency  force,  in  order  to  please  and 
honor  him,  by  concerted  action,  produced  a  larger  amount  of  business  in  the  week 
that  marked  his  70th  birthday  than  I  believe  had  ever  before  been  produced  by  an 
agency  force  in  the  same  length  of  time.  Be  that  as  it  may,  it  was  a  marvelous 
tribute  of  affection  and  respect  which  by  silent  action  and  common  effort  they  thus 
paid  their  leader,  and  it  touched  him  deeply. 

Such  was  John  F.  Dryden,  so  far  as  I  am  now  able,  or  time  permits,  to  speak  of 
his  life,  his  work  or  his  character.  His  accomplishments  were  great.  Those  in  the 
field  of  life  insurance  were  notable  and  lasting.  The  business  which  he  founded 
was  new  in  this  country  and  marked  his  constructive  genius.  It  was  soon  taken 
up  by  the  Metropolitan  and  has  been  carried  along  with  equal  or  greater  success  by 
that  company,  but  the  two  have  gone  on  hand  in  hand,  along  similar  lines  and  with 
similar  results,  and  to  the  efforts,  to  the  honesty  and  the  high  standards  main- 
tained by  the  management  of  both  of  these  companies  is  due  the  high  respect  in 
which  industrial  insurance  is  held  in  this  country  to-day,  and  to  their  efforts  and 
their  great  success  is  owing  the  relief,  the  comfort  and  the  happiness  which  is  felt 
in  millions  of  families  where  but  for  them,  and  as  formerly,  pain,  distress  and  blank 
despair  would  have  been  their  only  portion. 

23 


In  Memoriam — John  Fairfield  Dryden 

At  the  regular  meeting  of  the 

Board  of  Trade  of  Newark,  N.  J., 

held  on  the  evening  of  December  13,  1911,  the  following  was  adopted  by  a  rising 
vote  and  ordered  made  a  part  of  the  records  of  the  Board: 

At  this  first  meeting  since  his  death,  we  wish  to  put  on  the  records  of  the 
Board  of  Trade  of  Newark  a  minute  expressing  our  deep  feeling  at  the  loss  that  this 
city  and  this  State  have  sustained  in  the  death  of  Mr.  John  F.  Dryden. 

Coming  to  this  city  an  entire  stranger  when  it  was  a  comparatively  small  place, 
and  coming  from  the  New  England  States,  he  chose  here  to  make  the  start  on  a 
career  that  was  to  make  his  name  known  all  over  the  civilized  world.  His  was  the 
monument  that  he  left  in  the  center  of  Newark  and  to  him  more  than  to  any  of  his 
associates  is  due  the  growth  of  this  large  corporation.  He  needs  no  other  monu- 
ment. 

Those  of  us  who  had  the  privilege  of  his  acquaintance  and  who  felt  honored 
as  being  counted  among  his  friends  were  also  admirers  of  the  great  ability  which  he 
possessed  and  his  steady  and  successful  effort  to  build  up  the  institution  with  which 
his  name  was  connected  as  president.  Those  who  knew  him  intimately  as  a  man 
of  small  affairs  and  watched  him  as  he  grew  to  be  a  man  of  national  fame  saw  no 
difference  in  this  kindly,  quiet  man.  He  was  always  the  same  to  his  friends,  and  his 
genial  manner  and  quiet,  scholarly  disposition  will  remain  with  us  always  as  a 
pleasing  memory. 

We  wish  to  extend  to  his  family  our  heartfelt  sympathy  in  their  great  afflic- 
tion. 


At  a  special  meeting  of  the  Executive  Committee  of  the 

Association  of  Life  Insurance  Presidents 

in  New  York  City  the  following  memorial  on  the  late  John  F.  Dryden  was  adopted: 

It  is  with  deep  sorrow  that  we  record  the  death  of  Honorable  John  F.  Dryden, 
a  member  of  this  association  and  of  its  executive  committee.  In  his  death  the  busi- 
ness of  industrial  life  insurance  in  America  has  lost  its  founder,  the  State  of  New 
Jersey  a  distinguished  leader  and  the  Nation  a  citizen  who  has  done  much  for  its 
upbuilding. 

He  possessed  in  remarkable  degree  those  qualities  which  lead  to  success  and  to 
which,  as  friends  and  associates,  we  now  point  with  pride  and  satisfaction.  Ability, 
courage,  integrity,  energy  and  will-power  were  the  things  which  distinguished  him 
among  his  fellow-men  and  enabled  him  to  rear  a  business  institution  that  will  ever 
stand  as  a  monument  to  his  memory  and  cause  his  name  to  be  written  on  the  pages 
of  history  with  other  pioneers  in  America's  progress  and  development. 

With  his  strength  of  mind  and  character  there  were  coupled  a  kindly  spirit  and 
charm  of  manner  seldom  to  be  found  in  men  of  his  type.  These  characteristics 
make  his  loss  harder  to  bear,  but  afford  the  blessing  of  enabling  us  to  cherish  his 
memory  with  love  and  admiration,  to  think  of  him  as  a  friend  who  helped  to  make 
the  world  a  better  place  for  us  to  live  in  than  if  we  had  not  known  him. 

The  following  committee  was  appointed  to  represent  the  association  at  the 
funeral  of  Mr.  Dryden:  William  A.  Day,  John  R.  Hegeman,  Charles  A.  Peabody, 
George  E.  Ide,  Cornelius  Doremus,  Dr.  John  P.  Munn  and  Robert  Lynn  Cox. 

24 


In  Memoriam — John  Fairfield  Dryden 

Resolutions  expressing  the  deep  sorrow  of  the 

Essex  County,  N.  J.,  Republican  Committee 

at  the  death  of  former  United  States  Senator  John  F.  Dryden  were  adopted  by  a 
rising  silent  vote  at  the  meeting  of  the  committee  November  24,  1911 : 

Whereas,  the  members  of  the  Republican  County  Committee  have  just  learned 
with  the  deepest  sorrow  of  the  death  of  former  United  States  Senator  John  F.  Dryden, 
and 

Whereas,  by  his  death  the  people  of  the  whole  Nation  have  suffered  an  irre- 
parable loss,  the  State  of  New  Jersey  has  lost  one  of  her  most  illustrious  sons  and 
the  members  of  this  committee  a  loyal  friend,  therefore,  be  it 

Resolved,  That  the  sympathy  of  this  committee  be  extended  to  the  bereaved 
family  and  that  these  resolutions  be  spread  in  full  upon  the  minutes  of  the  commit- 
tee, and  that  a  copy  of  the  same,  suitably  engrossed,  be  forwarded  to  the  family  of 
the  deceased. 

The  Life  Underwriters'  Association  of  New  York 

held  a  meeting  on  November  28th. 

Donald  G.  C.  Sinclair  on  behalf  of  the  association  proposed  impressively  a 
resolution  as  a  tribute  to  President  John  F.  Dryden.  He  said:  "Death,  that  kind 
old  nurse,  has  rocked  one  of  our  valued  friends  to  sleep." 

The  tribute: 

John  F.  Dryden,  founder  of  The  Prudential  Insurance  Company  of  America, 
died  at  Newark,  N.  J.,  on  November  24,  1911,  in  the  fruition  of  his  years  and  service 
as  a  creator,  conserver  and  citizen. 

In  addition  to  the  relations  by  which  we  best  knew  him,  as  president  of  the 
great  company  he  founded,  his  interest  and  influence  in  matters  of  life  insurance 
generally  are  attested  by  the  service  he  rendered  in  his  official  connection  with  the 
Association  of  Life  Insurance  Presidents. 

He  represented  the  State  of  New  Jersey  faithfully  and  with  distinction  in  the 
higher  branch  of  the  national  legislature.  Neither  success  nor  honors  unfitted  him 
for  those  human  relations  which  endeared  him  to  his  associates  in  the  agency  work 
of  his  own  company. 

In  his  death  the  institution  of  life  insurance  suffers  a  sentimental  as  well  as  a 
real  loss,  for,  with  the  passing  away  of  John  Fairfield  Dryden,  there  is  removed  from 
the  environment  of  earthly  affairs  one  of  the  last  of  those  men  of  genius  who  created 
the  very  idea  of  life  insurance  for  the  industrial  classes.  Therefore,  by  this  body  of 
men  who  knew  his  worth  and  revere  his  memory  be  it 

Resolved,  That  the  life  Underwriters'  Association  of  New  York,  in  testimony 
of  the  life  and  character  of  John  Fairfield  Dryden,  extend  to  the  field  representa- 
tives of  The  Prudential  in  all  sections,  and  to  the  officers  associated  with  him  in 
executive  duties,  and  to  all  the  members  of  his  family,  this  expression  of  our  pro- 
found sympathy,  our  deep  sorrow  and  our  heartfelt  appreciation  of  the  man  who 
lived  his  day,  did  his  work,  and  died  in  the  fulness  of  achievement  in  benefiting  his 
fellow-men. 


25 


John  F.  Dryden— A  Pastor's  Tribute. 

Perhaps  the  first  reference  by  the  clergy  of  Newark  to  the  death  of  Mr.  Dryden 
was  made  during  the  services  in  the  Church  of  the  Redeemer  Sunday,  November  26. 
In  the  opening  prayer  Mr.  Dryden  was  impersonally  spoken  of  by  the  Rev.  Henry 
R.  Rose,  who  said,  among  other  things: 

"I  cannot  let  this  hour  close  without  paying  a  word  of  tribute  to  the  memory 
of  a  noble  soul,  who  now  lies  sleeping  his  last  sleep  in  our  midst.  John  F.  Dryden 
was  one  of  earth's  noblemen  and  a  true  benefactor  of  the  human  race.  He  came  to 
the  city  of  Newark  a  poor  young  man,  but  rich  with  a  great  idea.  He  dreamed  of 
industrial  insurance  by  which  the  workingmen  and  workingwomen  could  provide 
for  their  future  and  when  they  passed  away  be  buried  in  a  self-respecting  manner. 
One  who  preserves  the  independence  of  his  fellow-men  confers  on  them  a  great  and 
lasting  benefit. 

"But  this  man  was  a  genius  and  by  his  tireless  industry  and  foresight  he  built 
up  The  Prudential  Insurance  Company  so  that  to-day  in  our  city  alone  it  gives 
honorable  employment  to  3,000  men  and  women,  at  good  wages,  under  good 
conditions,  and  with  comparatively  short  hours.  It  pays  out  some  $2,000,000 
every  year  in  salaries.  This  means  that  the  business  this  man  established  blesses 
our  city  every  day  by  making  happier  homes  and  contented  workers.  A  man  who 
gives  a  great  business  to  a  city  is  a  real  benefactor,  for  the  truest  philanthropy  is 
helping  men  to  help  themselves. 

"I  would  like  to  see  the  people  of  Newark  subscribe  for  a  monument  in  memory  of 
John  F.  Dryden,  that  future  generations  might  take  courage  and  rejoice  in  the 
industrial  ideal;  not  a  monument  of  bronze  or  stone,  but  an  institute  where  the 
intellectual  moral  life  of  this  community  could  be  moulded  on  the  broadest  lines, 
that  this  great  man,  though  dead,  might  continue  to  speak. 

"Truly  a  great  man  and  a  prince  of  Israel  has  fallen.  But  in  passing  our  way 
he  has  left  us  nobler  and  made  us  have  greater  faith  in  human  nature." 


At  a  special  meeting  of  the 

Division  Managers'  Association 

of  The  Prudential  Insurance  Company  of  America,  held  on  Saturday,  November 
twenty-fifth,  nineteen  hundred  and  eleven,  the  following  minute  was  adopted: 

It  has  pleased  Almighty  God  to  remove  from  among  us  Hon.  John  F.  Dryden, 
President  of  The  Prudential  Insurance  Company  of  America.  Through  his  death 
there  is  lost  to  the  Nation  a  man  whose  wisdom  and  courage  first  established  the 
beneficence  of  Industrial  Insurance  in  America,  and  to  us  a  leader  whose  foresight, 
breadth  of  intellect  and  steadfastness  of  purpose  created,  guided  and  brought  to 
its  present  magnitude  our  Company,  with  which  his  name  shall  ever  be  associated. 

United  with  these  powers  of  mind  was  a  heart  intensely  human,  so  manifesting 
itself  through  sympathy  and  grave  courtesy  that  those  associated  with  him  in  his 
life  work,  both  policyholders  and  employees,  mourn  the  passing  of  a  friend. 

Our  admiration  for  his  character,  respect  for  his  achievements,  and  sympathy 
for  his  loved  ones  are  such  that  these  words  express  only  too  inadequately  our 
sense  of  overwhelming  loss. 

26 


In  Memoriam — John  Fairfield  Dryden 

"So  live  that  when  thy  summons  comes  to  join 
The  innumerable  caravan  which  moves 
To  that  mysterious  realm  where  each  shall  take 
His  chamber  in  the  silent  halls  of  death, 
Thou  go  not  like  the  quarry  slave  at  night, 
Scourged  to  his  dungeon,  but  sustained  and  soothed 
By  an  unfaltering  trust,  approach  thy  grave 
Like  one  who  wraps  the  drapery  of  his  couch 
About  him  and  lies  down  to  pleasant  dreams." 


Tribute  from  the  Ordinary  Agencies  and  the  Ordinary  Division 

Managers. 

No  greater  tribute  could  be  paid  to  the  memory  of  John  Fairfield  Dryden  than 
this,  that  without  conscious  effort  he  commanded  the  love,  respect  and  devotion  of 
everyone  whose  rare  good  fortune  it  was  to  be  brought  in  touch  with  him. 

Of  unbending  rectitude  in  all  matters  underlying  the  constructive  side  of  life 
insurance,  and  believing  that  The  Prudential  could  advance  without  making  com- 
parisons of  any  sort  with  other  life  insurance  companies,  he  built  more  firmly  than 
he  knew. 

His  creative  ability,  coupled  with  his  desire  to  give  policyholders  and  field 
representatives  that  which  he  believed  was  due  them,  is  a  tribute  to  which  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  people  will  subscribe. 

His  charm  of  manner  and  innate  courtesy  to  all,  however  lowly  their  position, 
compelled  the  most  profound  admiration.  Devoted  to  the  purest  ideals  and  eager 
to  implant  in  the  minds  of  his  associates  the  highest  standard  of  purity  in  all 
dealings,  he  passes  to  the  beyond,  yet  not  without  leaving  a  precious  inheritance  to 
those  who  have  wisely  followed  his  teachings.  In  the  closing  of  his  life  we  have 
lost  a  personal  friend,  an  invaluable  counselor  and  guide,  a  model  of  gracious 
manliness  and  unusual  executive  ability. 

November  27,  1911.  

Tribute  from  the  Medical  Staff  of  The  Prudential. 

Whereas,  our  Heavenly  Father,  in  His  All-Wise  Providence,  again  entered 
our  ranks,  on  November  24,  1911,  to  claim  his  own,  a  prince  among  men,  our 
beloved  President,  John  Fairfield  Dryden, 

Therefore  be  it  resolved,  That  the  undersigned,  the  Medical  Staff  of  the 
Home  Office,  hereby  extend  to  the  directors  of  The  Prudential  Insurance  Com- 
pany of  America  our  earnest  sympathy  in  their  loss  of  one  so  original  and  progres- 
sive in  life  insurance,  so  safe  and  sane  in  finance  and  business,  whose  charm  of 
manner  and  genius  attracted  the  admiration  and  compelled  the  esteem  of  every- 
one associated  with  him.  ^_^^^^_ 

Resolutions  by  Home  Office  Employees. 

Whereas,  in  the  providence  and  wisdom  of  the  Infinite  Creator,  John  Fair- 
field Dryden,  President  of  The  Prudential  Insurance  Company  of  America,  has 
been  removed  from  us  and  his  earthly  ministrations  closed;  and, 

27 


In  Memoriam — John  Fairfield  Dryden 

Whereas,  in  view  of  the  cordial  relations  existing  for  many  years  between  him 
and  us  as  members  of  the  Home  Office  staff,  it  is  fitting  that  we  record  our  appre- 
ciation of  him;  therefore  be  it 

Resolved,  That  we  are  profoundly  impressed  by  our  sense  of  loss  in  his  death, 
and  that  his  wisdom,  ability  and  counsel  which  have  so  well  guided  us  in  our  work 
wfll  ever  be  held  in  grateful  remembrance. 

Resolved  further,  That  we  express  to  his  family  our  deep  sympathy  in  a  great 
affliction. 


The  individual  tributes  received  from  members  of  the  Prudential  field  staif 
were  very  numerous  and  indicated  the  great  love  held  for  President  Dryden  by  the 
field  workers  of  the  Company. 

This  esteem  is  summed  up  in  resolutions  of  the  Superintendents'  Associations 
from  the  various  sections  of  the  United  States  and  Canada  and  in  the  tribute  from 
the  Ordinary  Agencies,  published  herein,  the  individual  staff  tributes  being  omitted 
for  lack  of  space. 


The  following  resolution  respecting  the  death  of  John  F.  Dryden  was  adopted 
at  a  meeting  of  the  directors  of 

The  Metropolitan  Life  Insurance  Company 

on  November  28th: 

Resolved,  That  in  view  of  the  cordial  relations  which,  for  more  than  thirty 
years,  have  existed  between  the  Metropolitan  and  The  Prudential  Insurance  Com- 
pany of  America,  the  directors  of  this  company — in  view  of  his  lamented  death — 
desire  to  place  upon  record  an  expression  of  their  estimate  of  the  character  and 
achievements  of  the  Honorable  John  F.  Dryden,  and  to  convey  to  The  Prudential 
— its  executive  officers,  directors  and  field  staff — the  assurances  of  their  sorrow  and 
sympathy. 

The  two  companies  inaugurated  the  business  of  Industrial  insurance  but  a 
brief  time  apart;  for  thirty  years  they  have  co-operated  in  important  measures 
affecting  the  progress  and  protection  of  their  common  work;  and  though  the  efforts 
of  each  have  been  marked  by  keen  competition,  the  rivalry  has  been  friendly  and  the 
respect  of  each  for  the  other  has  remained  inviolate. 

In  the  great  development  of  life  insurance  in  this  country,  and  especially  in  its 
Industrial  phase,  Mr.  Dryden  was  a  commanding  figure.  He  was  a  combination 
of  the  aggressive  and  the  conservative.  Of  restless  energy,  he  inspired  those  about 
him  with  like  zeal.  Cool  and  courageous,  he  taught  the  lesson  of  self-reliance.  An 
excellent  judge  of  character,  his  lieutenants  were  able  coadjutors.  He  wrought 
with  diligence  and  with  integrity.  He  built  up  a  great  company — of  rare  distinction 
to  the  business  and  of  high  honor  to  the  country. 

We  trust  that  the  Metropolitan  and  The  Prudential  may  ever  retain  unimpaired 
their  old  relation  of  mutual  co-operation  and  confidence. 

28 


In  Memoriam — John  Fairfield  Dryden 

John  Fairfield  Dryden,  President  of  The  Prudential  Insurance  Company  of 
America,  often  called  "the  Father  of  Industrial  Insurance,"  died  on  Friday,  Novem- 
ber 24th. 

Mr.  Dryden  was  72  years  old.  He  had  a  remarkable  business  career,  beginning 
at  the  bottom,  and  under  many  discouragements  had  risen  to  a  commanding  place 
in  the  business  and  financial  world,  was  prominent  in  public  affairs,  one  of  the  fore- 
most American  citizens  in  civic  spirit,  easily  the  leading  man  in  the  city  where  he 
lived,  a  prominent  figure  in  national  politics,  and  of  such  sound  judgment,  integrity 
and  insight  that  his  advice  was  eagerly  sought  by  many  who  have  a  controlling 
voice  in  the  larger  business  affairs  of  the  Nation. 

It  was  as  President  of  The  Prudential  Insurance  Company  of  America  that  his 
name  will  be  best  remembered  in  the  business  world.  He  started  that  Company 
and  nursed  it  through  its  early  struggles.  To  its  success  he  devoted  his  best 
energies  during  almost  two  score  years,  and  his  monument  in  the  world  of  affairs 
will  be  as  imposing  and  as  lasting  as  that  Company  itself. 

About  1865  he  obtained  a  report  on  the  subject  of  Industrial  insurance  sub- 
mitted to  the  Massachusetts  Legislature  by  Professor  Elizur  Wright,  the  State 
Insurance  Commissioner,  concerning  the  methods  of  the  Prudential  Insurance 
Company  of  London,  England.  He  at  once  became  interested  in  this  branch  of 
insurance,  procured  all  the  reports  available  of  the  company,  analyzed  them  and 
studied  the  foundation  principles,  the  practical  details  and  the  results,  both  from 
the  standpoint  of  the  company  and  the  policyholder,  and  from  this  evolved  the 
idea  of  formulating  an  Industrial  insurance  system  in  the  United  States. 

President  Dryden  had  a  warm  friendship  for  the  Metropolitan  and  its  officers, 
and  there  have  been  cordial  relations  between  the  two  companies  from  a  period 
early  in  their  career. 

— From  "The  Intelligencer"  {agency  paper  of  The  Metropolitan  Life  Insurance 
Company),  December  9, 1911. 


29 


Interesting  Facts  Concerning  President  Dryden. 

The  story  of  Mr.  Dryden  is  really  the  story  of  The  Prudential  Insurance  Com- 
pany, so  closely  was  his  own  personality  linked  with  the  affairs  of  the  Company. 
By  his  careful  management  The  Prudential  became  a  great  organization,  employing 
over  three  thousand  clerks,  managers,  inspectors,  medical  examiners  at  the  Home 
Office  and  over  28,000  persons  in  all  branches  of  the  Company's  work.  It  can  thus 
be  seen  that  Mr.  Dryden  was  at  the  head  of  a  vast  army  of  industrial  workers.  In 
Newark,  New  Jersey,  the  Company  owns  and  occupies  four  large  office  buildings 
which  are  considered  one  of  the  finest  groups  of  office  buildings  in  the  world. 
****** 

In  politics  Mr.  Dryden  was  a  Republican  all  his  life  and  took  an  active  interest 
in  party  affairs.  In  addition  to  other  national  measures  which  he  had  a  voice 
in  framing  and  bringing  to  a  successful  issue,  Senator  Dryden  was  most  active  in 
securing  for  New  Jersey  appropriations  aggregating  $5,000,000.  His  amendment 
to  the  Railroad  Rate  Bill  fixing  the  time  for  divorcing  the  control  of  mining  proper- 
ties from  the  railroads  proved  a  wise  and  important  enactment.  As  a  member  of 
the  Committee  on  Libraries  and  the  Committee  on  Public  Buildings  and  Grounds 
he  secured  action  upon  a  number  of  important  measures  for  the  improvement  of 
the  National  Capital.  Senator  Dryden  was  also  particularly  attentive  to  the  cases 
of  old  soldiers  and  their  widows,  as  was  shown  by  the  large  number  of  bills  and 
claims  before  the  pension  office  which  he  had  brought  to  a  successful  issue.  He 
gave  personal  attention  to  every  case  showing  extreme  want  and  successfully 
fathered  a  number  of  other  private  relief  measures  of  praiseworthy  character. 
****** 

In  the  1907  panic  Mr.  Dryden  proved  himself  a  veritable  financial  Gibraltar 
and  through  his  efforts  many  men  in  New  Jersey  were  able  to  stave  off  a  financial 
crisis.  On  his  seventieth  birthday,  in  August,  1909,  the  field  force  of  The  Pruden- 
tial handed  in  as  a  compliment  nearly  85,000  policies,  the  largest  volume  of  life 
insurance  ever  written  by  the  agency  force  of  any  company  in  the  world  in  one 
week.  ****** 

Senator  Dryden  was  well  informed  on  an  unusual  number  of  important  subjects, 
which  gave  him  a  largeness  of  mental  scope  and  judicial  and  executive  force.  He 
was  a  great  student  of  literature  and  the  fine  arts. 

****** 

Senator  Dryden,  who  by  reason  of  his  life  work  in  establishing  and  conducting 
The  Prudential  Insurance  Company,  was  familiar  with  the  ways  and  wants  and 
conditions  of  the  wage  earning  millions;  a  man  who,  owing  to  his  extended  experience, 
was  recognized  by  his  great  staff  of  28,000  men  as  one  of  the  greatest  life  insurance 
minds  America  has  produced.  He  was  known  by  all  insurance  men  as  the  "Father 
of  Industrial  Insurance,"  and  enjoyed  the  distinction  of  being  the  only  American 
underwriter  of  the  present  day  personally  to  have  founded  one  of  the  two  great 
branches  of  American  life  insurance.  He  constantly  devoted  his  energy  and  ability 
to  broadening  and  liberalizing  the  policies  and  methods  of  The  Prudential,  and 
his  letters  to  Agents  and  his  addresses  on  life  insurance  before  Yale  University, 
civic  associations  and  gatherings  of  life  insurance  men  won  for  him  a  reputation  as 
a  clear  and  logical  writer  and  speaker  and  a  strong  executive. 

30 


Tributes  From  Friends. 

I  have  been  intimately  associated  in  business  with  Senator  Dryden  for  twenty 
years.  In  my  judgment  he  was  the  most  forceful  personality  that  has  appeared  in 
New  Jersey  during  my  time. 

His  work,  in  my  judgment,  will  not  again  be  duplicated. 

He  was  calm,  well  poised,  dignified,  with  an  extraordinary  command  of  the 

English  language,  and,  above  all,  possessed  a  ripe  and  wise  judgment.     He  was  not 

a  natural  politician,  but  reached  a  prominent  position  in  the  United  States  Senate. 

When  he  retired  from  that  body  he  had  the  respect  and  regard  of  his  colleagues. 

— Thomas  N.  McCarter,  President  of  Public  Service  Corporation  of  New  Jersey. 

Senator  Dryden  had  the  combined  qualities  of  greatness  and  goodness.  His 
life  work  is  his  monument,  which  will  command  the  admiration  and  respect  of  genera- 
tions yet  to  come. — Hon.  Thomas  J.  Hillery,  Boonton,  N.  J. 

I  have  long  prized  the  personal  friendship  of  Senator  John  F.  Dryden,  and 
honored  the  great  qualities  of  heart  and  mind  which  he  so  unsparingly  gave  to  his  life 
work  in  behalf  of  humanity.  His  able  and  loyal  services  to  the  State  and  Nation 
make  up  a  noble  record  that  fittingly  crowns  his  well-spent  life. 

— /.  Walter  Thompson,  New  York,  N.  Y. 

A  gifted  and  distinguished  man  and  a  noble  and  loyal  friend.  We  must  find 
consolation  in  the  thought  that  he  was  permitted  to  do  a  great  work  and  to  leave 
a  splendid  memory,  a  memory  of  kindness  of  heart,  breadth  of  mind  and  integrity 
of  soul. — Laura  Sedgwick  Collins,  New  York,  N.  Y. 

I  always  found  him  very  clear  and  sound  in  his  judgment  and  at  the  same  time 
kindly  and  considerate  in  his  judgment  of  others.     He  will  be  much  missed. 

— Hamilton  F.  Kean,  New  York,  N.  Y. 

We  notice  with  deep  regret  the  announcement  of  Senator  Dryden's  death. 
This  company  extends  to  The  Prudential  and  its  officers  our  sincere  sympathy  in 
the  loss  they  have  suffered. 

— A.  N.  Edwards,  President,  Commonwealth  Trust  Co.,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 

President  Dryden,  a  man  whom  we  have  all  learned  to  appreciate  very  highly. 
— Davis-Wellcome  Mortgage  Company,  Topeka,  Kans. 

Mr.  Dryden  was  my  classmate  at  Yale,  in  the  same  division  and  for  four  years 
sitting  with  me  in  the  same  classroom  for  recitations.  I  was  frequently  in  his  room 
and  passed  many  pleasant  hours  with  him,  for  I  esteemed  him  very  highly  and  have 
taken  great  interest  and  pleasure  in  his  successful  career. 

— 0.  P.  Chapman,  Northfield,  Conn. 

It  has  been  my  pleasure  to  know  him  quite  well  for  some  15  years,  and  to  know 
of  him  and  his  wonderful  work  much  longer.  He  has  been  one  of  the  great  upbuild- 
ers  of  perhaps  the  most  beneficent  business  known  to  modern  times,  and  his  work 
will  be  a  monument  to  him  for  many  years  to  come.  In  many  other  ways  he  has 
been  a  pillar  of  strength  and  a  great  public  benefactor.  The  State  of  New  Jersey 
can  ill  afford  to  spare  such  a  man. — Gage  E.  Tarbell,  New  York,  N.  Y. 

31 


In  Memoriam — John  Fairfield  Dryden 

You  have  reason  to  be  proud  of  his  achievements,  and  most  of  all  for  the  charac- 
ter, reputation  and  distinguished  name  he  has  left  to  his  children,  the  kind  vouch- 
safed to  the  third  and  fourth  generation. — Col.  Thomas  S.  Chambers,  Trenton,  N.  J. 

We  presume  there  are  more  men  living  to-day  claiming  the  possession  of  his 
friendship  than  almost  any  public  and  successful  man  of  this  day  and  generation. 
To  the  man  who  tried  to  do  right  and  needed  assistance  or  friendship  he  did  not 
have  to  appeal  in  vain.  His  heart  was  larger  than  his  somewhat  frail  body.  He 
has  made  smooth  and  easier  the  paths  of  thousands  of  men  since  he  first  began  his 
life  work,  and  we  rejoice  that  he  was  allowed  to  continue  until  he  completed  one  of 
the  greatest  institutions  of  this  or  any  other  century. 

— G.  F.  Hadley,  Syracuse,  N.  Y. 

He  was  one  of  the  most  kindly  men  it  was  my  pleasure  to  know — a  true,  genuine 
man — one  who  really  loved  his  fellows  and  delighted  to  be  doing  something  for 
them.  His  monument  is  all  about  us.  He  has  done  more  for  Newark  and  this 
State  than  any  other  citizen  in  half  a  century.  What  Newark  is  to-day,  financially, 
is  largely  his  work.  It  was  a  simple  delight  to  be  with  him.  His  life  has  been  one 
of  benefaction  to  others.  He  may  have  accumulated  a  great  fortune.  I  hope  he 
did,  but  he  has  helped  thousands  of  others  to  a  home  and  comfort  and  by  his  example 
has  inspired  the  best  of  us  with  greater  zeal  for  all  good  things. 

— Ex-Governor  J.  Franklin  Fort,  New  Jersey. 

The  Prudential  has  lost  the  greatest  man  it  can  ever  have  and  your  State  as  well 
as  the  country  at  large  has  lost  a  man  of  high  opinion,  broad-minded,  conservative 
and  one  who  was  able  to  guide  his  State  as  well  as  the  Nation  to  a  straightforward 
policy. — C.  N.  Williams,  Indianapolis,  Ind. 

He  did  me  a  very  great  favor  some  years  ago,  unasked,  and  I  learned  of  it  only 
through  a  mutual  friend.  What  he  did  for  me  I  know  he  must  have  done  for  many 
others. — Frederick  F.  Guild,  Former  President  of  Board  of  Education,  Newark,  N.  J. 

He  occupied  a  large  place  in  this  community,  which  living  men  will  be  long  in 
fully  possessing,  if,  indeed,  it  ever  can  be  wholly  filled. 

— John  R.  Hardin,  Attorney,  Newark,  N.  J. 

I  hope  that  your  grief  may  be  somewhat  softened  by  the  thought  of  his  high 
character,  his  great  achievements,  and  his  Nation-wide  beneficence. 

— John  0.  H.  Pitney,  Attorney,  Newark,  N.  J. 

His  name  and  his  work  are  a  noble  inheritance. 

— Edward  Q.  Keasbey,  Newark,  N.  J. 

The  world  is  better  that  he  lived. — Frank  M.  Schulz,  Newark,  N.  J. 

The  days  I  spent  in  his  society  at  Lake  Laura  remain  fresh  and  fair,  lightened 
and  sweet  by  his  genial,  friendly  courtesy,  kindly  words  and  deeds. 

— A.  F.  Jamieson,  Lawrenceville  School,  N.  J. 

32 


In  Memoriam — John  Fairfield  Dryden 

A  strong,  sweet,  kindly  nature  is  resting.  The  farsighted  vision,  the  untiring 
zeal,  the  resistless  power  and  the  wonderful  life  work  have  made  their  mark  on  the 
world's  history,  and  while  the  body  rests  the  name  and  the  spirit  will  live  for  all 
time. — /,  H.  Bacheller,  President,  Ironbound  Trust  Co.,  Newark,  N.  J. 

In  these  strenuous,  busy  times  such  a  life  shines  as  an  example  of  what  a  splendid 
life  can  be  lived,  so  full  of  business  ability,  without  sacrificing  any  of  the  finest 
traits  of  home  life  and  of  a  perfect  gentleman.     I  feel  privileged  to  have  known  him. 

— A.  Wright  Post,  753  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York,  N.  Y. 


33 


Some  of  President  Dryden's  Work  and  Writings 

Senator  Dryden  was  one  of  the  committee  to  raise  a  fund  for  the  memorial  to 
President  McKinley  at  Canton,  Ohio,  and  chairman  of  the  Cleveland  Memorial 
Association  which  raised  nearly  3110,000  through  popular  subscription  for  a  memo- 
rial tower  to  President  Grover  Cleveland  at  Princeton,  New  Jersey.  Mr.  Dryden  had 
large  and  valuable  libraries  in  his  Newark  residence  and  at  his  Bernardsville  home, 
where  his  summer  vacations  were  spent.  He  was  a  Presbyterian  and  a  steady 
contributor  to  religious  and  charitable  objects.  Early  in  1911  he  purchased  7,000 
acres  in  the  Blue  Mountain  range  in  Sussex  County,  N.  J.  Mr.  Dryden,  together 
with  his  son-in-law,  Colonel  Kuser,  who  owns  two  thousand  acres  adjoining,  began 
the  establishment  of  a  game  preserve  on  his  property,  as  Mr.  Dryden  had  become 
deeply  interested  in  the  development  of  forestry. 


The  twenty-five  million  policies,  representing  three  and  one-half  billion  dollars 
of  life  insurance  on  the  Industrial  plan,  which  are  in  force  in  America  to-day  bear 
witness  to  the  faith  and  confidence  of  the  public  in  Mr.  Dryden's  plan  of  weekly 
payment  life  insurance.  The  Prudential  alone  has  paid  to  policyholders  and  holds 
to  their  credit,  mostly  as  reserves,  since  Mr.  Dryden  organized  the  Company, 
over  3466,000,000,  which  is  further  evidence  of  the  constantly  increasing  thrift  of 
the  working  classes  and  the  endorsement  of  Mr.  Dryden's  plan  for  the  amelioration 
of  the  condition  of  working  men's  families  at  the  time  of  death. 


In  September,  1901,  President  Dryden  wrote  a  widely  quoted  article  on  lon- 
gevity. His  conclusions,  based  upon  the  experience  of  The  Prudential,  were  that  the 
American  people  are  advancing  toward  physical  supremacy  and  distinctly  longer 
lives.  In  other  writings  Mr.  Dryden  pointed  out  the  opportunities  of  life  insurance 
as  a  career.  He  also  stated  that  only  one-fifth  of  the  population  carry  legal  re- 
serve life  insurance.  He  took  up  the  question  of  taxation  of  life  insurance  in  the 
United  States  and  the  regulation  of  insurance  by  Congress,  both  very  important 
subjects  in  life  insurance  ethics,  and  argued  strongly  for  a  reduction  in  the  tax  upon 
life  insurance  by  the  various  States  and  also  for  the  placing  of  life  insurance  under 
national  supervision,  in  order  to  bring  about  uniform  laws  for  the  conduct  of  the 

business. 

****** 

Mr.  Dryden  ascertained  that  Alexander  Hamilton  was  the  first  to  believe  that 
the  regulation  of  insurance  comes  within  the  meaning  of  the  commerce  clause  of  the 
Constitution.  Mr.  Dryden  stated  that  his  own  course  in  public  and  business  life 
was  largely  influenced  by  the  fundamental  principles  of  party  responsibility  and 
the  high  ideals  in  political,  business  and  social  life  of  Abraham  Lincoln  and  Alexander 
Hamilton.  Mr.  Dryden's  book,  "Addresses  and  Papers  on  Life  Insurance  and 
Other  Subjects,"  is  recognized  as  a  reference  book  on  life  insurance,  and  particularly 
Industrial  life  insurance. 

34 


PORTRAITS  CORESIDENT  DRYDEN 
at  DIFFERENT  PERIODS  of  HIS  LIFE 


Tributes  from  Life  Insurance  Company 
Executives  and  Others 

)T  was  my  privilege  to  know  Mr.  Dryden  from  about  the  time  The 
Prudential  Insurance  Company  was  formed.  To  know  the  man, 
on  the  practical  and  business  side,  one  has  simply  to  point  to  that 
notable  company.  While  he  had,  in  the  late  Dr.  Ward  and  other 
able  coadjutors,  clever  associates,  the  inspiring  mind  sat  in  the 
president's  chair — a  mind  that  dominated  without  domineering. 
He  was  alert,  industrious,  confident,  courageous.  He  began  in 
obscurity,  but  fought  his  way  by  sheer  pluck  to  a  commanding 
position  among  his  fellow-men.  In  laying  the  foundations  of  his  company  many  a 
dark  day  confronted  him;  impediments  there  were  that  seemed  insurmountable; 
situations  arose  that  tried  his  very  soul;  but  he  converted  obstacles  into  stepping- 
stones  and  patiently  forced  his  way  to  triumph.  Outside  the  realm  of  business 
he  found  time  to  be  helpful  and  encouraging  to  varied  interests  that  made  for  the 
higher  welfare  of  the  community,  and  in  the  sanctuary  of  his  home  he  was  ever  the 
burning  coal  and  the  fragrant  incense.  His  name  will  go  down  to  posterity  as  long 
as  Industrial  insurance  shall  endure,  and  the  noblest  monument  to  his  business 
memory  will  be  the  towering  edifice  and  the  beneficent  work  of  the  great  company 
born  of  his  brain  and  pushed  by  his  skill  and  influence  to  an  exalted  place  among  the 
great  corporations  of  the  world. 

— John  R.  Hegeman,  President,  Metropolitan  Life  Ins.  Co. 

John  F.  Dryden  belonged  to  that  small  group  of  men  who  have  made  the  world 
smaller  by  making  men  larger.  In  creating  the  institution  of  which  he  was  the 
head  he  showed  the  immeasurable  strength  of  men  standing  together,  the  potency 
of  soundly  organized  human  effort,  the  economic  power  of  the  poor. 

The  Prudential  is  sociologically  a  Brooklyn  Bridge.  The  support  of  the 
Brooklyn  Bridge  is  made  up  of  an  almost  infinite  number  of  small  steel  wires, 
which,  acting  separately,  would  snap  under  slight  pressure,  but,  bound  together 
under  a  masterful  plan  of  co-operation,  they  hold  a  great  structure  in  place,  and 
not  only  safely  carry  the  traffic  of  a  huge  city,  but  forward  the  economic  develop- 
ment of  the  State. 

The  company  which  Mr.  Dryden  and  his  associates  built  is  economically  a 
similar  structure.  It  has  assembled  the  severally  insignificant  and  otherwise 
unrelated  earnings  of  the  poor  and  has,  by  the  force  of  a  power  which  was  almost 
a  creation,  evolved  the  colossal  structure  which  remains  as  his  monument.  This 
structure  is  more  than  a  storehouse  of  money  saved,  more  than  a  mere  institution. 
Every  dollar  in  its  vaults  and  every  dollar  yet  to  be  collected  is  impressed  with  a 
social  potency  which  does  not  belong  to  mere  savings  as  such. 

Mr.  Dryden  was  a  creator.  He  suffered  from  calumny,  as  all  creators  must, 
but  his  life  was  greatly  useful,  and  his  work  will  endure. 

— Darwin  P.  Kingsley,  President,  New  York  Life  Ins.  Co. 

With  the  death  of  Mr.  John  F.  Dryden  passes  one  of  the  brilliant  figures  in  the 
life  insurance  world.  It  was  he  who,  with  the  conviction  that  Industrial  insurance 
would  find  a  wide  field  in  America,  introduced  the  scheme  in  the  early  '70s,  and  the 

35 


In  Memoriam — John  Fairfield  Dryden 

fact  that  the  company  which  he  founded,  and  over  which  he  presided,  had  at  the 
end  of  last  year  (1910)  over  $1,100,000,000  of  Industrial  insurance  in  force,  as  well 
as  over  $700,000,000  of  Ordinary  insurance,  shows  the  truth  of  this  conviction  and 
the  energy  and  skill  with  which  Mr.  Dryden  pursued  it. 

He  will  always  be  remembered  as  the  founder  of  Industrial  insurance  in  America. 
To  what  limits  this  branch  of  insurance  may  grow  it  is  impossible  to  state,  but  when 
we  consider  that  at  the  end  of  last  year  (1910)  there  were  about  21,500,000  policies 
in  force  in  the  four  companies  doing  Industrial  business  and  that  the  population  of 
America,  according  to  the  census  of  1910,  was  about  92,000,000,  we  see  that  there 
is  an  Industrial  policy  in  existence  to-day  for  nearly  one  in  every  four  of  the  popula- 
tion of  the  country. 

This  great  branch  of  human  industry,  which  has  been  developed  in  less  than  forty 
years,  was  started  by  the  enterprise  of  Mr.  Dryden,  whose  energy  was  one  of  the 
chief  elements  in  its  development,  and  his  works  speak  for  him  better  than  words  of 
tribute. — Charles  A.  Peabody,  President,  Mutual  Life  Ins.  Co.  of  New  York. 

In  the  death  of  Senator  Dryden  the  country  has  lost  a  notable  citizen,  who  was 
distinguished  in  the  public  service  and  an  eminent  builder  in  progressive  insurance 
work.  His  labors  in  behalf  of  sound  Industrial  insurance  have  been  of  the  highest 
order  and  will  prove  an  enduring  monument  to  his  genius. 

— W.  A.  Day,  President,  Equitable  Life  Assurance  Society  of  the  United  States. 

In  the  death  of  John  F.  Dryden,  the  pioneer  of  Industrial  insurance  in  America, 
honored  in  public  and  in  private  life,  there  passes  away  the  second  of  the  three 
great  minds  primarily  responsible  for  the  sound  establishment  of  that  form  of 
insurance  which  is  undoubtedly  of  the  greatest  benefit  to  the  whole  people  ever 
devised.     His  loss  will  be  keenly  felt  by  all  of  the  insurance  world. 

— Roland  0.  Lamb,  President,  John  Hancock  Mutual  Life  Ins.  Co. 

A  wonderful  personality  has  gone  out  of  the  world. 
— Haley  Fiske,  Vice  President,  Metropolitan  Life  Insurance  Company,  New  York. 

To  write  Mr.  Dryden's  biography  is  to  write  the  history  of  The  Prudential 
Insurance  Company  from  the  date  of  its  beginning  down  to  the  time  of  his  death. 
His  was  the  master,  the  guiding,  hand  in  its  creation,  development  and  upbuilding. 
His  was  the  power  of  its  organization,  growth  and  expansion.  He  met  discourage- 
ments with  equanimity,  reverses  with  courage,  and  defeats  with  fortitude,  and 
overcame  them  by  an  indomitable  determination  of  purpose.  The  honors  that 
came  to  him  rested  lightly  upon  him,  and  he  bore  them  with  modest  dignity.  He 
was  easily  approachable;  was  a  stanch  friend,  once  his  friendship  was  won.  The 
great  company  of  to-day  that  he  reared  will  be  his  enduring  monument. 

— George  H.  Gaston,  2d  Vice  President,  Metropolitan  Life  Ins.  Co. 

I  consider  the  work  of  Mr.  John  F.  Dryden  in  the  field  of  insurance  to  be  of 
first  importance  to  this  country.  He  was  one  of  the  real  pioneers.  He  saw  a 
great  opportunity  to  establish  Industrial  insurance  in  this  country.  He  had  the 
courage  to  undertake  it,  the  intelligence  to  know  how  to  proceed,  and  the  grit  and 
determination  to  stay  with  it  through  a  multitude  of  most  discouraging  experiences. 
The  foundations  he  laid  are  of  the  kind  that  endure.     Whatever  changes  may  be 

36 


/ 


In  Memoriam — John  Fairfield  Dryden 

made  from  time  to  time  in  the  superstructure  of  this  great  institution,  to  meet  the 
changing  needs  and  conditions  of  civilization,  will  be  made  on  the  foundations  laid 
by  such  men  as  John  F.  Dryden. — George  W.  Perkins,  Financier. 

The  death  of  John  F.  Dryden  removes  from  the  world  of  insurance  a  towering 
figure,  which  for  more  than  a  generation  has  commanded  the  respect  and  admiration 
not  only  of  the  large  number  of  men  directly  connected  with  the  great  enterprise  of 
which  he  was  the  head,  but  of  insurance  and  business  men  throughout  the  nation. 
— E.  J.  Heppenheimer,  President,  Colonial  Life  Ins.  Co.  of  America. 

When  a  man  has  done  great  things  their  importance  is  rarely  appreciated  until 
long  after  his  death,  and  it  may  thus  be  too  early  to  make  a  just  and  complete  esti- 
mate of  the  achievements  and  public  services  of  Mr.  John  F.  Dryden.  As  the 
founder  of  Industrial  life  insurance  in  this  country,  however,  he  has  surely  left  a 
lasting  memorial  of  his  enterprise  and  ability. 

My  acquaintance  with  him  began  thirty-two  years  ago — in  1879 — when  Mr. 
Henry  C.  Kelsey,  then  Secretary  of  State,  and  acting  insurance  commissioner, 
requested  me  to  make  an  examination  of  what  he  referred  to  as  "a  peculiar  little 
company,  which  was  doing  a  novel  kind  of  life  insurance  business."  In  its  then 
small  office  I  found  the  secretary — Mr.  Dryden — a  quiet,  modest-mannered  man, 
whose  evident  vigor  and  ability  gave  the  only  presage  of  the  wonderful  subsequent 
history  of  The  Prudential  Insurance  Company.  Despite  his  remarkable  success,  it  is 
pleasant  to  remember  that  the  modesty  and  courtesy  noticed  at  our  first  meeting 
characterized  all  my  many  experiences  with  him  during  the  remainder  of  his  life. 

— David  Parks  Fackler,  Consulting  Actuary. 

I  have  always  sincerely  shared  in  the  admiration  and  esteem  in  which  Mr. 
Dryden  was  held,  not  only  by  the  insurance  fraternity  but  by  all  by  whom  his  work 
was  known. — S.  C.  Dunham,  President  Travelers  Ins.  Company. 

I  knew  Mr.  Dryden  well  in  the  early  '80s,  and  have  admired  him  greatly  ever 
since.  A  few  years  prior  to  that  time  he  had  organized  The  Prudential,  and  the 
Metropolitan  had  come  under  the  control  of  Mr.  John  R.  Hegeman.  The  Ger- 
mania  had  an  idea  then  of  adding  Industrial  insurance  to  our  regular  business,  and 
did  make  an  attempt  to  do  so.  Mr.  Dryden,  Mr.  Hegeman,  the  Germania's  then 
president,  Mr.  Hugo  Wesendonck,  and  myself  held  a  meeting  once  every  week  at  our 
office,  to  discuss  each  new  phase  of  the  business  as  it  presented  itself. 

At  these  meetings  Mr.  Dryden  won  the  admiration  and  affection  of  all  of  us 
with  his  gentleness  of  character  and  his  dignified,  quiet  manner,  and  in  all  questions 
that  came  up  he  showed  that  keen  insight  and  sound  judgment  which  has  manifested 
itself  in  his  every  act  and  through  the  whole  history  of  the  marvelous  growth  of  The 
Prudential. — C.  Doremus,  President,  Germania  Life  Ins.  Co. 

Justice  to  the  memory  of  John  F.  Dryden  may  not  be  attempted  in  a  paragraph; 
but  it  may  be  permitted  to  say  his  was  an  overwhelming  personal  force  in  life 
insurance  almost  without  a  rival,  literally  without  a  peer  on  the  lines  which  he  laid 
for  himself  and  which  he  consistently  followed  to  a  fruition  which  appalls  by  its 
immensity  and  grandeur,  evoking  unstinted  praise  from  all  who  really  know. 

— George  K.  Johnson,  President,  Penn  Mutual  Life  Ins.  Co. 

37 


In  Memoriam — John  Fairfield  Dryden 

I  was  personally  acquainted  with  the  Hon.  John  F.  Dryden  for  nearly  a  genera- 
tion. His  creative  and  constructive  mind,  the  depth  and  breadth  of  his  business 
activity,  made  him  a  conspicuous  character  in  the  world's  work. 

— L.  G.  Fouse,  President  Fidelity  Mutual  Life  Ins.  Co. 

It  is  difficult  for  us  to  realize  at  this  time  that  the  life  of  John  F.  Dryden,  just 
ended,  covered  the  entire  period  during  which  Industrial  life  insurance  in  America 
has  achieved  its  wonderful  growth  and  development.  We  have  been  accustomed  to 
admire  the  magnitude  and  importance  of  this  great  economic  force,  and  now  may 
well  take  occasion  to  pay  homage  to  the  man  of  foresight,  courage  and  tenacity 
of  purpose  who  was  largely  responsible  for  its  establishment  and  upbuilding. 

We  can  congratulate  those  who  receive  the  blessings  of  this  business  that  during 
the  days  of  darkness  and  discouragement  its  defense  was  left  to  a  man  of  such 
ability  and  of  such  will  power  as  that  possessed  in  a  remarkable  degree  by  Mr. 
Dryden — characteristics  which  enabled  him  to  press  onward  to  success  when  others 
would  have  given  up  the  fight.  He  was  a  pioneer  in  an  important  part  of  our  com- 
mercial life,  and  as  such  he  must  ever  be  named  with  the  pioneers  in  other  lines  of 
activity,  who  have  largely  made  our  nation  what  it  is  to-day.  Let  our  words  on 
this  occasion  be  of  appreciation  and  commendation,  in  order  that  we  may  give  to 
this  great  man  the  historical  position  of  eminence  to  which  he  is  entitled  and  with 
which  he  must  ever  be  credited  in  the  years  to  come. 

— Robert  Lynn  Cox,  Manager,  Association  of  Life  Insurance  Presidents. 

Death  in  taking  President  John  F.  Dryden  from  the  very  forefront  of  life  insur- 
ance at  the  same  time  claims  for  its  future  memory  another  of  its  greatest  men  and 
most  successful  executives.  He  combined  fine  character  with  vast  natural  ability, 
and  this,  in  turn,  with  its  scientific  application  to  business,  the  result  being  that  his 
services  to  mankind  became  so  important  and  so  far-reaching  many  years  ago  as  to 
make  him  forever  an  enduring  captain  of  peace. 

— Joseph  A.  DeBoer,  President,  National  Life  Insurance  Co. 

John  F.  Dryden  was  a  member  of  the  board  of  directors  of  the  United  States 
Casualty  Company  from  the  date  of  its  incorporation  until  his  death. 

While  he  had  pronounced  views  on  nearly  every  question  which  came  before  the 
board,  he  was  the  most  tolerant  of  men.  He  persuaded  rather  than  coerced.  Not 
once  did  I  ever  hear  him  give  expression  to  a  thought  which  called  attention  to  his 
own  magnificent  success.  His  manner  was  always  forbearing,  considerate  and 
genuinely  sympathetic. 

He  constantly  advised  liberality  toward  claimants  and  stamped  his  own  broad 
mind  on  the  conduct  accorded  claim  matters  by  this  company. 

— Edson  S.  Lotty  President,  United  States  Casualty  Co. 

John  F.  Dryden  was  a  great  man,  judged  by  the  best  standards  of  greatness, 
a  man  who  combined  the  powers  of  a  capable  executive,  a  competent  underwriter 
and  a  judge  of  human  nature.     Above  all,  he  was  a  most  lovable  and  just  man. 

— S.  H.  Wolfe,  Consulting  Actuary. 

He  always  impressed  me  as  a  man  of  great  ability  and  one  who  had  thoroughly 
investigated  and  mastered  the  subject  he  was  presenting. 

The  value  of  his  executive  and  financial  ability  is  abundantly  shown  in  the 

38 


In  Memoriam — John  Fairfield  Dryden 

building  up  of  one  of  the  great  insurance  companies  of  the  country,  and  is  sufficient 
evidence,  if  any  were  needed,  to  place  him  among  the  ablest  insurance  men  of  the 
world. — Geo.  C.  Markham,  President,  Northwestern  Mutual  Life  Ins.  Co. 

We  shall  all  greatly  miss  his  friendship  and  wise  counsel. 

— G.  E.  Ide,  President  Home  Life  Insurance  Company,  New  York. 

Mr.  Dryden  certainly  occupied  a  foremost  position  in  the  insurance  world  of 
America,  and  his  death  is  a  loss  to  the  Company  with  which  he  has  been  so  long 
identified. 

— Wm.  W.  McClench,  President,  Massachusetts  Mutual  Life  Insurance  Company, 
Springfield,  Mass. 

Those  who  knew  John  F.  Dryden  in  his  later  years,  after  the  great  company 
which  he  founded  had  made  a  success  which  even  he  had  not  anticipated,  and  after 
he  had  become  an  influential  factor  in  national  politics  and  in  many  enterprises, 
appreciated  his  loyalty  as  a  friend,  his  value  as  a  counselor,  his  worth  as  a  man  who 
strove  faithfully  and  conscientiously  to  perform  his  public  and  private  duties;  but  I 
think  that  those  who  knew  him  in  the  early  days  of  The  Prudential,  while  the 
struggle  was  being  made  to  establish  that  Company  on  a  firm  foundation,  gained 
the  clearest  insight  into  his  character,  his  undaunted  courage,  his  sympathetic  nature 
and  the  wide  range  of  his  abilities. 

John  F.  Dryden  was  an  insurance  man  in  the  broadest  sense  of  that  term.  He 
understood  the  technical  side  of  the  business  as  few  actuaries  do,  and  was  con- 
stantly studying  the  experience  of  The  Prudential.  As  fast  as  safety  permitted 
additional  benefits  to  the  Industrial  policyholders  were  granted.  The  growth  of 
The  Prudential  is  marked  by  one  concession  after  another  of  this  kind,  and  the 
company's  payments,  over  and  above  policy  guarantees,  amount  to  many  millions 
of  dollars.  He  was  a  splendid  organizer  and  manager  of  men.  His  own  early 
experience  in  the  field  had  taught  him  to  be  sympathetic  with  the  trials  of  agents, 
and  he  was  constantly  endeavoring  to  better  their  condition  and  find  ways  of 
making  their  work  easier  and  more  successful.  An  independent  and  original  thinker, 
he  encouraged  the  same  qualities  in  others — craving  confidence  in  himself,  he  freely 
gave  his  trust.  Strong,  able,  patient  and  fair,  it  was  his  influence  that  held  the 
Company  together  in  those  early  and  trying  days  and  had  more  to  do  with  its  ulti- 
mate success  than  any  other  factor. 

— John  B.  Lunger,  Vice  President  of  the  Equitable  Life  Assurance  Society  of  the 
United  States,  who  was  associated  with  The  Prudential  for  many  years  as  Actuary 
and  in  other  capacities. 


39 


Expressions  of  Sympathy  from  Foreign 
Insurance  Companies 

With  profound  sympathy  from  all  here  for  irreparable  loss  you  have  sustained 
by  the  death  of  your  president. — The  Prudential,  London,  England. 

The  committee  of  management  of  this  society  learn  with  much  regret  of  the 
death  of  the  Hon.  John  F.  Dryden,  the  founder  of  your  company  and  for  more 
than  thirty  years  its  president. — Royal  Liver  Friendly  Society,  Liverpool,  England. 

We  assure  you  we  profoundly  participate  in  the  loss  that  your  company  has 
undergone. — Levensverzekering-Maatschappij  "Dordrecht,"  Dordrecht,  Holland. 

We  hasten  to  express  to  you  our  sense  of  sorrow  and  regret  at  the  loss  that  has 
befallen  you.  By  so  doing  we  are  also  executing  the  order  of  one  of  our  members  of  the 
Supervisors'  Board,  His  Excellency,  Marschall  von  Bieberstein,  Privy  Government 
Council,  who,  together  with  our  confidential  clerk,  Mr.  Borgwardt,  enjoyed  the 
privilege  of  being  received  by  President  Dryden  in  the  most  amiable  manner 
during  their  stay  in  America  in  the  year  1908,  and  where  we  also  gained  some 
insight  into  the  gigantic  institution  founded  by  him,  and  which  he  conducted 
during  so  many  years  with  such  extraordinary  success. 

— Preussische-Lebens-Versicherungs  Aktien  Gesellschqft,  Berlin,  Germany. 

We  have  with  regret  received  your  announcement  that  the  founder  and  president 
of  your  honored  company  is  dead.  By  these  presents  we  therefore  beg  to  express 
our  sympathy  on  occasion  of  the  heavy  loss  which  the  company  has  suffered. 

— Det  Norske  Folkeforsikringsselskab,  Fram  A-S,  Ckristiania,  Norway. 

It  is  with  sorrow  that  we  learn  of  the  Hon.  John  F.  Dryden's  death,  and  we  beg 
you  to  make  yourself  the  interpreter,  before  your  company's  board,  of  our  feelings 
of  deep  regret  and  sympathy. 
— La  Fondiaria  Compagnia  Italiana  di  Assicurazioni  Sulla  Vita,  Florence,  Italy. 

With  sincere  regret  I  received  the  sorry  tidings  that  your  president,  the  Hon. 
John  F.  Dryden,  has  died.  I  remember  the  very  time  I  had  the  opportunity  to  get 
an  interview  with  the  president.  It  lasted  only  a  few  minutes,  but  I  am  sure  it 
will  last  in  my  memory  for  all  my  lifetime,  and  I  am  proud  of  having  met  the  father 
of  Industrial  insurance  in  the  United  States. 

— Ossian  Loivenmark,  c-o  Kaleva  Life  Insurance  Co.,  Helsingfors,  Finland. 

We  beg  you  and  your  colleagues  to  accept  our  sincerest  condolences  and  sym- 
pathies on  the  sad  loss  which  you  have  sustained. 

— Rossia  Insurance  Company,  St.  Petersburg,  Russia. 

Accept,  dear  sirs,  on  this  occasion  the  expression  of  our  sincerest  sympathy, 
and  I  beg  to  assure  you,  dear  sirs,  of  our  highest  consideration. 

— Le  Phenix,  Paris,  France. 

With  sincerest  participation  in  your  company's  and  your  own  feelings  of  sorrow 
I  have  received  the  announcement  of  Hon.  John  F.  Dryden's  death.  I  fully  realize 
what  the  loss  of  your  president  must  signify  to  your  company  as  a  whole  and  to 
each  of  the  officers  personally.  I  have  deep  impressions  of  Mr.  Dryden's  kindness 
to  me  and  shall  keep  his  memory  in  good  and  thankful  remembrance. 

— Sven  Palms,  Director,  Lifforsakrings-Aktiebolaget  Thule,  Stockholm,  Sweden. 

40 


President  Dryden  and  Sir  Henry  Harben 

Before  the  insurance  fraternity  had  really  been  able  to  realize  that  Senator 
John  F.  Dryden,  The  Prudential's  president  and  the  originator  of  Industrial  insur- 
ance in  America,  had  passed  away,  word  came  from  England  that  Sir  Henry  Harben, 
president  of  the  great  Prudential  Assurance  Company  of  London  and  founder  of 
Industrial  insurance  in  Great  Britain,  had  died.  Sir  Henry  was  eighty-eight  years 
old. 

Senator  Dryden  and  Sir  Henry  Harben  met  first  in  the  early  days,  when  the 
Senator  was  establishing  Industrial  insurance  here,  and  when  news  of  Sir  Henry's 
death  reached  The  Prudential  of  America,  Vice  President  Forrest  F.  Dryden,  the 
acting  head  of  the  Company,  sent  the  following  cablegram  to  the  British  company: 

"We  learn  with  deepest  regret  of  the  death  of  Sir  Henry  Harben,  your  honored 
president,  and  founder  of  Industrial  insurance  in  the  United  Kingdom. 

"He  was  a  man  of  remarkable  genius  and  organizing  ability,  possessing  also 
those  attributes  of  character  which  make  men  beloved  by  their  fellows. 

"Our  late  president  frequently  referred  to  the  courtesy  with  which  Sir  Henry 
received  him  at  the  time  he  was  founding  The  Prudential  of  America,  and  his  willing- 
ness to  impart  information  about  the  work.     We  shall  never  forget  this. 

"Please  express  to  the  officers  of  your  company  and  to  the  family  of  Sir  Henry 
our  sympathy  in  their  great  loss." 

— From  the  Eastern  Underwriter,  Dec.  7, 1911. 


Mr.  Dryden  was  not  only  a  great  originating  and  constructive  force  in  the 
creation  of  life  insurance  adapted  to  the  conditions  of  the  wage-earning  masses  of 
this  country,  but  a  man  of  whom  it  could  be  truthfully  said  that  the  qualities  of  his 
heart  well  matched  the  brilliant  powers  of  his  intellect. — The  John  Hancock  Field. 

The  sympathy  of  the  Mutual  Benefit  is  extended  to  The  Prudential  in  the  loss 
of  their  great  leader,  John  Fairfield  Dryden,  who  was  called  to  lay  down  his  great 
life  work  on  November  twenty-fourth. 

— The  Pelican,  Mutual  Benefit  Life  Ins.  Co.  Paper. 


"Trygg"  has  good  cause  to  uphold  the  memory  of  President  Dryden.  The 
working  methods  through  which  our  organization  has  won  so  many  victories  and 
which  it  first  introduced  in  Sweden  are  mostly  taken  from  The  Prudential. 

John  F.  Dryden  found  his  best  reward  in  the  knowledge  that  his  life  had  been 
of  use  to  mankind,  as  the  greatest  love  towards  man  is  to  help  him  to  help  himself. 
— Translated  from  the  weekly  publication  of  the  "Trygg;'  a  Swedish  Industrial  Ins.  Co. 


The  message  of  Dryden's  departure  has  awakened  feelings  of  sorrow  mingled 
with  a  deep  sense  of  gratitude  toward  him  among  many  far  beyond  the  borders  of 
America. 

— From  Gjallarhornet  Insurance  Publication,  Stockholm,  Sweden. 

41 


Extracts  from  Resolutions  by  Prudential  Field 
Superintendents*  Associations 

Division  A 

NEW  YORK  CITY,  LONG  ISLAND.  NEW  JERSEY  AND  NEW  YORK  STATE 

In  the  death  of  our  beloved  president  we  are  most  deeply  afflicted,  for  he  was 
indeed  our  friend,  our  guide  and  inspiration.  His  life  was  one  of  splendid  example 
as  a  citizen  and  a  man.  His  wonderful  grasp  of  all  that  pertained  to  our  business, 
his  always  readily  expressed  appreciation  of  our  efforts,  were  among  the  many 
qualities  that  endeared  him  to  his  great  army  of  workers,  who  were  ever  proud  to 
follow  the  lead  of  the  greatest  mind  life  insurance  has  ever  known. 

Those  of  us  who  have  met  the  difficulties  of  the  work  in  the  field,  the  prejudice 
against  the  general  proposition  of  life  insurance,  the  doubt  in  the  minds  of  those 
afar  from  the  Home  Office — the  tribulations  attendant  upon  the  organization  of  a 
successful  corps  of  workers,  remember  with  reverence  and  affection  his  counsel,  his 
magnetic  handshake,  which  was  so  often  the  master-key  to  the  recesses  of  our  un- 
known reserve  force  and  latent  power,  and  we  shall  ever  recall  these  experiences 
with  gratitude  for  the  great  uplift  his  words  of  encouragement  gave  us. 

In  the  loss  of  our  beloved  president  the  world  has  lost  one  of  its  greatest  in- 
fluences for  good,  one  of  its  greatest  economical  teachers,  one  of  the  greatest  models 
for  the  emulation  of  young  and  old. 

Division  B 

NEW  YORK  CITY  AND  BROOKLYN 

As  men  who  go  to  the  field  of  battle  and  by  carnage  and  strife  bring  peace  to  the 
country  are  gratefully  recognized  and  remembered  by  the  nation,  surely  in  a  pre- 
eminent sense  Mr.  Dryden's  superhuman  wisdom,  courage  and  energy  in  bringing 
peace  and  comfort  to  so  many  millions  in  the  time  of  their  direst  need  shall  not  only 
be  conceded  but  glorified,  for,  no  matter  by  what  name  the  company  through  whose 
instrumentality  an  Industrial  policy  of  insurance  has  or  shall  be  issued  in  the  western 
world,  the  beneficence  of  its  mission  is  to  be  attributed  to  Mr.  Dryden,  and  no  honest 
man  will  question  Mr.  Dryden's  right  to  be  recognized  as  the  father  of  Industrial 
insurance  on  this  continent.  It  is  true  that  The  Prudential  Insurance  Company 
is  a  business  corporation  and  that  Mr.  Dryden  devoted  the  whole  of  his  mature  life 
to  its  creation  and  development,  but  it  is  equally  true  that  Mr.  Dryden's  life  was 
marked  throughout  by  charitable  works  of  the  most  valuable  character,  and  he 
exemplified  the  truth  of  the  words  of  a  writer  who  said,  "Truest  charity  is  that  which 
teaches  the  poor  to  help  themselves.'*  To  us  whose  directed  labor  has  been  in  the 
Field,  Mr.  Dryden  and  The  Prudential  Insurance  Company  were  synonymous. 
Nevertheless,  though  in  the  providence  of  God  Mr.  Dryden  has  gone  hence,  his 
work  abides  and  we  realize  the  truth  of  the  ancient  word  which  says,  "He  being 
dead,  yet  speaketh." 

Division  C 

MAINE.  NEW  HAMPSHIRE.  VERMONT.  MASSACHUSETTS.  RHODE  ISLAND  AND  CONNECTICUT 

Resolved,  That  the  life  of  this  great  man  shall  be  as  a  book,  open  for  our  appre- 
ciation and  emulation,  working  as  he  did  with  unrelenting  persistence,  unfaltering 

42 


In  Memoriam — John  Fairfield  Dryden 

courage,  and  an  inspired  far-sightedness  towards  the  accomplishment  of  the  end  in 
view,  till  verily  he  reached  the  mountain  top  and  viewed  the  consummation  of  his 
efforts;  from  pole  to  pole,  from  Occident  to  orient,  the  abiding  strength  of  the  fortress 
rock  personifies  to  old  and  young  the  strength  and  security  of  our  Company,  and 
this  is  Mr.  Dryden's  monument  for  the  ages,  this  wonderful  rock,  standing  for  all 
time  at  the  meeting  of  the  waters  of  the  blue  Mediterranean  and  the  great  Atlantic. 
No  greater  monument  in  all  the  world  can  a  man  have  to  hold  his  memory  in  the 
hearts  of  men. 

Division  D 

PHILADELPHIA  AND  VICn*ITY 

We  knew  him  for  his  broad-gauge  fellowship,  his  uncompromising  honesty,  his 
open-hearted,  big-souled  generosity,  and  the  height  and  purity  of  his  thoughts. 
The  inspiration  and  confidence  he  gave  his  employees  by  his  fairness  and  courtesy 
contributed  largely  to  the  upbuilding  of  this  Company. 

Mr.  Dryden  was  the  father  of  Industrial  insurance  in  America,  the  master  mind 
of  The  Prudential  Insurance  Company.  In  his  death  the  community  has  sustained 
a  great  loss,  and  we,  the  Superintendents,  our  best  friend. 

Division  E 

PENNSYLVANIA 

Our  Company  has  lost  the  master  mind  which  gave  it  birth;  which  foresaw 
its  future,  and  which  planned  its  progress;  the  firm  hand  which  guided  it  through 
its  steady  climb  upward  and  onward,  and  the  noble  heart  which  inspired  its  achieve- 
ments and  gloried  in  the  benefactions  which  it  has  been  permitted  to  confer  upon 
mankind. 

Division  F 

OHIO.  PENNSYLVANIA  AND  WEST  VTRGINIA 

He  was  our  ideal  of  an  able,  high-minded  and  honorable  executive  officer,  ever 
keenly  alert  to  the  best  interests  of  the  Company's  employees  and  policyholders 
alike,  his  life,  great  talents  and  untiring  energies  being  dedicated  to  the  upbuilding 
of  this  institution  on  which  he  has  left  the  uneradicable  impress  of  his  splendid  per- 
sonality. 

Division  G 

MICHIGAN.  INDIANA  AND  KENTUCKY 

His  loyalty,  his  courage,  his  patience,  his  integrity  and  persistency  were  guiding 
stars  to  us  and  made  us  better  men  and  better  citizens. 

While  Mr.  Dryden  attained  the  high  pinnacles  of  fame  during  his  busy  life,  he  left 
for  the  generation  to  come  a  richer  heritage  in  the  great  institution  he  founded  and 
fostered  and  which  makes  him  one  of  the  greatest  benefactors  of  the  age. 

Division  H 

NEW  YORK  STATE 

While  death  comes  as  a  shock,  we  would  not  be  so  selfish  as  to  indulge  ourselves 
in  self-pity — rather  would  we  rejoice  that  John  F.  Dryden  lived  and  thereby  blessed 
and  benefited  mankind;  so  we  would  consecrate  ourselves  to  our  work  and  carry 
forward  the  great  enterprise  founded  by  our  beloved  dead.  It  is  well  that  the 
world  has  passed  forever  from  feeling  a  sorrow  for  the  dead.     He  was  the  founder 

43 


In  Memoriam — John  Fairfield  Dryden 

of  Industrial  life  insurance.  Through  his  ministrations  millions  of  people  have 
been  upheld,  supported,  strengthened,  benefited.  Mr.  Dryden  believed  in  his  work. 
He  was  consecrated  to  it,  and  no  life  insurance  company  in  the  world  but  that  is  a 
little  different,  a  little  better,  on  account  of  the  fact  that  John  F.  Dryden  lived  and 
worked,  loved  and  suffered,  endured  and  achieved. 


Division  J 

CITY  OF  CHICAGO.  STATES  OF  ILLINOIS.  INDIANA  AND  WISCONSIN 

From  most  humble  beginnings  in  his  chosen  life  work  he  rose,  through  courage, 
integrity,  energy  and  will  power,  to  the  highest  pinnacle  of  success.  These  virtues, 
by  precept  and  example,  were  transmitted  by  him  to  the  thousands  of  Prudential 
employees  and  have  resulted  in  making  them  the  most  loyal  and  enthusiastic  body 
of  life  insurance  workers  in  the  world. 

His  greatness  is  best  exemplified  in  the  fact  that 

He  Loved  His  Fellow-men. 


Division  K 

MARYLAND.  DELAWARE.  WEST  VIRGINIA,  PENNSYLVANIA  AND  DISTRICT  OF  COLUMBIA 

In  contemplating  his  noble  character,  the  picture  presents  itself  to  us  of  a  genius 
in  executive  ability,  an  expert  in  gigantic  matters  financial,  and  a  statesman  whose 
name  and  fame  will  live  in  the  pages  of  history  forever;  it  was  he,  and  he 
alone,  who  foresaw  the  possibilities  of  Industrial  insurance  in  America,  and  by 
his  indomitable  will  and  energy  he  erected  a  lasting  monument  whose  name  is 
"Prudential." 

Division  L 

ILLINOIS.  KANSAS,  MISSOURI  AND  KENTUCKY 

His  intelligent  grasp  of  all  that  pertained  to  our  business  and  his  appreciation 
of  our  work  are  among  the  many  qualities  that  have  endeared  him  to  the  great  army 
of  Prudential  workers.  Every  hamlet  and  city  throughout  our  vast  country  has 
felt  the  stimulus  of  his  influence  and  the  benefit  of  his  work.  His  ability  as  an 
organizer  was  ever  a  source  of  admiration  to  us,  as  the  loyalty  of  his  staff  was  a 
source  of  pride  to  him.  Deep  in  our  hearts  we  shall  always  treasure  this  loyalty 
in  honor  of  his  memory  and  shall  try  to  perpetuate  the  same  ennobling  spirit  and 
high  ideals  which  have  characterized  his  work  as  our  leader. 


Division  M 

NEW  JERSEY  AND  STATEN  ISLAND 

The  passing  away  of  our  president  affects  not  only  us  but  the  entire  nation. 
No  one  can  feel  it  more  deeply  than  we  who  have  known  him  and  learned  to  ad- 
mire and  love  him.  Therefore  we  resolve  to  continue  giving  our  loyal  support  to 
our  great  Company,  thereby  perpetuating  the  life  work  of  its  founder. 

44 


In  Memoriam — John  Fairfield  Dryden 
Division  N 

NEW  JERSEY,  NEW  YORK  AND  PENNSYLVANIA 

Through  the  death  of  our  beloved  president  the  field  force  has  lost  a  kind,  wise 
leader  and  counselor  and  the  policyholders  of  the  Company  a  stalwart  champion 
and  friend  possessing  the  sterling  qualities  of  integrity  and  honor. 

We,  the  members  of  this  association,  give  testimony  of  our  grief,  because  of  our 
great  loss,  and  extend  to  the  bereaved  family  our  great  sympathy  in  the  irreparable 
loss  they  have  suffered. 

Division  P 

IOWA.  KANSAS.  MICHIGAN,  MINNESOTA,  NEBRASKA,  OKLAHOMA  AND  WISCONSIN 

His  life  was  as  an  open  book  that  he  who  ran  might  read.  We  ever  appreciated 
his  uplifting  leadership  and  mourn  with  sorrow  his  passing.  From  the  Atlantic 
to  the  Pacific  his  name  is  known  in  millions  of  homes.  The  benefit  of  his  life  work 
is  best  shown  by  the  fact  that  nearly  one  quarter  of  the  population  of  the  country 
carry  Industrial  insurance  to-day.  In  the  hearts  of  millions  the  name  John  F. 
Dryden  will  be  enshrined  for  years  to  come,  because  he  has  helped  to  bring  comfort 
and  financial  aid  to  millions  at  a  time  when  aid  is  often  most  needed. 

Division  Q 

CALIFORNIA.  COLORADO,  OREGON,  UTAH,  WASHINGTON  AND  BRITISH  COLUMBIA 

John  F.  Dryden  was  a  teacher  of  thrift  and  life  insurance  self-help.  In  this  way 
he  helped  the  masses  to  help  themselves.  His  work  in  the  early  days  of  Industrial 
insurance  in  America  showed  signally  successful  pioneering.  Men  like  Mr.  Dryden, 
who  teach  others  to  help  themselves,  are  the  best  that  human  nature  provides,  and 
the  name  Dryden  will  be  enshrined  in  the  history  of  life  insurance  for  all  time,  be- 
cause of  his  bringing  life  insurance  within  the  reach  of  the  workingman  and  his 
family.  Mr.  Dryden  had  a  vision  of  life  insurance  for  the  masses  on  their  own  life 
conditions,  and  that  he  built  soundly  and  wisely  is  shown  by  the  wonderful  institu- 
tion of  Industrial  insurance  which  carries  its  blessings  into  thousands  of  homes  every 
day. 

Canadian  Division 
alberta,  manitoba,  new  brunswick.  nova  scotia,  ontario  and  quebec 

Confidence  in  our  Company's  methods  on  the  part  of  the  general  public  and  the 
spirit  of  loyalty  among  its  representatives  were  engendered  and  fostered  by  the 
guiding  influence  of  our  departed  chief.  To  these  is  attributable  much  of  the  suc- 
cess which  has  attended  our  efforts  in  this  latest  territory  to  be  developed  by  The 
Prudential. 

Conscious  that  a  man's  work  lives  after  him,  we  dedicate  ourselves  to  follow  to 
the  best  of  our  ability  the  course  laid  down  by  him. 

To  those  who  had  the  privilege  of  being  intimately  associated  with  him  in  the 
family  life  we  offer  our  deepest  sympathy  in  their  bereavement. 

"Write  me  as  one  that  loves  his  fellow-men." 


45 


The  Great  Value  of  Mr.  Dryden's  Life  Work  as  Expressed  by 
the  Insurance  Journals  of  the  United  States  and  Canada 

His  work  as  a  public  benefactor  of  the  American  people  bulks  large,  for  through 
his  efforts  death  has  been  robbed  of  its  terrors  to  the  working  classes,  pauperism  has 
been  reduced,  and  habits  of  thrift  inculcated  in  thousands  of  homes.  Mr.  Dryden's 
monument  will  be  his  bringing  of  life  insurance  within  the  reach  of  the  masses. 

— The  Spectator ,  New  York. 

Mr.  Dryden,  in  1875,  organized  the  corporation  now  so  well  known  the  world 
over  as  The  Prudential  Insurance  Company  of  America. 

From  time  to  time  the  Company  increased  the  amount  of  its  insurance  as  its 
mortality  experience  showed  a  higher  profit  on  the  business  than  the  management 
deemed  necessary,  and  it  has,  in  the  course  of  its  career,  voluntarily  returned  to  its 
policyholders,  in  the  form  of  remitted  premiums,  many  millions  of  dollars.  It  has 
during  all  that  time  proven  itself  to  be  one  of  the  most  potent  organizations  in  the 
amelioration  of  human  sorrow  and  one  of  the  greatest  helpers  in  the  social  uplift 
that  this  or  any  other  country  has  ever  known. 

— United  States  Review,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

It  is  given  to  but  few  men  to  have  accomplished  as  much  for  mankind. 

— Southwestern  Underwriter,  Atlanta,  Ga. 

He  was  of  those  who  see  all  things  steadily  and  see  them  whole.  For  the  sake 
of  rightness — and  he  strove  unceasingly  to  avoid  error — his  courage  was  of  the  kind 
that  takes  counsel  of  caution — that  first  seeks  to  know  and  then  unflaggingly 
pushes  forward.     His  career  in  business  is  singularly  clear  of  mistakes  of  judgment. 

— Assurance,  New  York. 

Mr.  Dryden  possessed  many  characteristics  which  entitle  him  to  be  accepted 
as  a  standard  of  manhood.  The  story  of  his  life  presents  to  the  present-day  young 
man  a  worthy  example  which  can  be  safely  followed. 

— American  Exchange  and  Review,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

The  Prudential  Insurance  Company  has  been  a  reflex  of  John  F.  Dryden — a 
personal  thing,  almost  a  part  of  the  man.  He  founded  it  and  with  it  the  present 
humane  and  marvelous  system  of  Industrial  life  insurance,  the  boon  of  the  working 
classes.  His  place  in  the  affairs  of  life  as  a  teacher  of  thrift  and  a  protector  of  the 
home  is  unique  and  his  name  will  be  honored  as  long  as  memory  lasts. 

— Insurance  Report,  Denver,  Colo. 

President  Dryden  was  remarkably  successful  in  developing  within  his  Company 
some  of  the  best  underwriting  talent  in  the  country.  President  Dryden  has  been 
called  the  "Father  of  Industrial  Insurance  in  America,"  and  he  might  well  be  desig- 
nated the  progenitor  of  Industrial  life  insurance  experts. — The  Argus,  Chicago,  III. 

John  F.  Dryden  possessed  a  singular  breadth  of  mind.  With  a  remarkable 
mental  grasp  he  saw  things  in  their  larger  aspects  and  at  the  same  time  he  was  a 
master  of  detail.  He  belonged  to  the  class  of  men  who  build,  the  class  that  has 
made  this  nation  by  their  genius  and  energy. — Insurance  World,  Pittsburgh,  Pa. 

46 


In  Memoriam — John  Fairfield  Dryden 

As  a  work  of  beneficence  of  wonderful  proportions  attained  during  the  lifetime 
of  its  founder,  The  Prudential  will  stand  as  a  most  enduring  monument  to  the 
memory  of  its  first  president,  John  F.  Dryden. — Rough  Notes,  Indianapolis,  Ind. 

The  name  of  The  Prudential  Insurance  Company  will  link  the  name  of  John  F. 
Dryden  with  the  lives  of  millions  of  people  who  will  in  future  years  depend  upon  and 
look  to  this  Company  for  protection.  This  monument  which  he  erected  is  more 
enduring  than  brass,  more  imperishable  than  marble.  It  will  stand  as  long  as 
humankind  are  human  and  dependent  upon  the  co-operation  of  each  other  for 
mutual  protection. — Insurance  Herald,  Atlanta,  Ga. 

We  doubt  if  even  a  small  percentage  of  the  people  of  this  country  appreciate 
what  President  John  F.  Dryden  of  The  Prudential  has  done  for  the  working  people. 
The  growth,  development  and  history  of  The  Prudential  speak  in  tribute  to  John 
F.  Dryden.  No  eulogy  penned  by  man  could  approach  this  silent  and  yet  all- 
powerful  panegyric^  The  millions  paid  to  policyholders  and  claimants,  the  com- 
fort its  protection  gives  to  the  living,  all  tell  of  the  wisdom,  judgment  and  ability 
of  its  distinguished  founder. — Western  Underwriter,  Chicago,  III. 

Master  figure  in  the  great  world  of  business  though  he  was — beset  and  weighted 
down  with  problems  that  so  easily  might  have  crushed  one  whit  a  weaker  man — 
no  pomp  or  show  of  circumstance  did  he  permit  there  being  hedged  about  him, 
and  ever  did  he  hold  himself  accessible  to  every  friend.  He  held  that  even  of  the 
humblest  man  the  wisest  might  learn  something — often  much.  It  was  not  diplo- 
macy that  led  Mr.  Dryden  to  find  time  to  see  those  who  sought  him  on  business  or 
otherwise,  and  ask,  in  that  sincere  way  of  his,  what  he  could  do  for  them.  It  was 
something  more  effective,  more  dependable,  than  even  the  finest  of  diplomacy.  It 
was  heart  interest,  sincere  good  nature,  pure  love  of  fellow-man.  Those  who  really 
knew  the  man  appreciated  that  no  illustration  could  so  well  befit  his  towering 
ruggedness  of  character  and  general  power  as  the  very  one  that  he  himself  con- 
ceived to  advertise  the  great  insurance  Company  whose  head  he  was — the  rock  of 
Gibraltar!  In  this  connection  be  it  noticed  that  advertising  experts  the  world  over 
have  freely  conceded  that  President  Dryden's  selection  of  a  picture  of  that  famous 
stronghold,  to  typify  the  exceeding  strength  of  his  Company,  The  Prudential,  was 
by  far  the  greatest  hit  ever  made  in  all  the  history  of  advertising. 

— Insurance  Leader,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 

The  man  who  led  the  way  has  gone.  The  blazed  path  has  become  a  mighty 
highway.  The  man  who  pointed  it  out  will  long  be  remembered.  President  Dry- 
den in  many  ways  was  a  remarkable  man. — Insurance  Monitor,  New  York. 

He  was  a  kind  man — a  man  who  viewed  life  and  people  from  a  broad,  liberal 
and  humane  standpoint.  There  was  nothing  narrow  in  his  makeup.  He  was 
built  on  large  lines.  His  vision  of  life  was  as  wide  as  it  was  keen  and  introspective. 
He  was  the  kind  of  man  that  makes  the  leader.  He  could  command  others  and 
win  their  respect  and  friendship  because  he  knew  how  to  command  himself.  He 
was  a  perfect  master  of  his  own  nature.  And  thus  it  was  that  he  towered  high 
above  ordinary  men  in  whatever  field  he  saw  fit  to  labor. 

— National  Economist,  Des  Moines,  Iowa. 

Mr.  Dryden  was  the  pathfinder  for  Industrial  insurance  in  America,  and  his 
whole  long  life  its  guide,  philosopher  and  friend,  prophet,  champion  and  zealous 
defender.    He  wrote  upon  the  winter's  field  the  promise  of  seedtime  and  harvest; 

47 


In  Memoriam — John  Fairfield  Dryden 

he  gave  to  age  the  fire  of  youth,  the  oil  of  joy  for  mourning;  the  sun  stood  full  upon 
the  work  of  his  hands  to  be  seen  of  all  men.  He  gave  to  life  insurance  a  wider  in- 
fluence and  a  broader  field.  He  divided  the  Jordan  of  life  insurance,  and  led  his 
people  through  it  into  a  fair  and  goodly  land.  He  struck  the  life  insurance  rock 
and  Industrial  insurance  gushed  forth  and  followed  his  people  wherever  they  went. 
The  most  triumphant  death  is  that  of  the  martyr;  the  most  awful,  that  of  the  mar- 
tyred patriot;  the  most  splendid,  that  of  the  hero  in  the  hour  of  victory;  the  most 
glorious,  that  of  the  man  who  has  found  his  work  and  who  has  done  it — fearing  no 
man  or  thing.     John  F.  Dryden  found  his  work  and  did  it.     Sweet  be  his  sleep. 

— Insurance  Index,  New  York. 

There  are  millions  of  people  who  will  bless  his  name  for  having  taught  them 
thrift  and  made  a  provision  not  only  for  themselves  but  for  their  families  as  well. 

— Insurance  and  Financial  Review,  Toronto,  Can. 

How  much  poorer  America  would  have  been  had  John  F.  Dryden  not  planned 
and  worked  and  achieved,  none  can  tell.  He  conceived  a  great  and  beneficent 
work  and  carried  it  to  a  wonderful  fruition.  He  ranks  among  the  few  whose  work 
lives  after  them,  and  of  whom  it  may  truthfully  be  said  that  the  world  would  have 
been  poorer  had  they  never  been  born. — The  Record,  New  York. 

His  name  will  also  ever  appear  in  capital  letters  in  any  future  history  of 
American  life  insurance. — Views,  Washington,  D.  C. 

There  is  not  a  life  insurance  man  in  the  country  who  is  devoted  to  his  business 
who  will  not  feel  that  a  great  power,  a  great  intelligence,  has  been  lost  to  life  insur- 
ance; that  a  light  has  gone  out.  Senator  Dryden's  career,  wonderfully  successful 
in  many  diverse  directions,  and  his  achievement  in  life  insurance,  which  has  no 
parallel — these  things  make  his  passing  glorious. — Eastern  Underwriter,  New  York. 

After  the  falling  of  night  of  November  24th,  when  the  message  of  death  had 
become  common  property  and  a  confirmation  came  in  the  lightless  dome  of  the 
Prudential  building,  it  was  realized  that  one  had  gone  whose  life  had  been  given  to 
humankind  and  who,  while  he  had  reaped  personal  success,  had  given  to  the  world 
out  of  mind  and  heart  a  largess  which  inured  more  material  beneficence  than  any 
yet  given  by  one  man,  or  by  any  aggregation  of  men,  in  the  story  of  the  world. 

— The  Expositor,  Newark,  N.  J. 

He  was  always  strong  enough  to  stand  bareheaded  before  the  world  and  state 
his  views  of  things.  His  simplicity  of  manner  bespoke  his  strength  of  character. 
He  was  truly  immovable  because  he  ever  stood  upon  a  basis  of  right  in  everything 
The  Prudential  was  concerned  in.  He  had  a  lot  of  praise  in  his  day  and  took  it  all 
calmly.  The  life  insurance  business  is  proud  of  having  upon  its  history  record  such 
a  man  as  John  F.  Dryden. — The  Surveyor,  New  York. 

He  was  one  of  the  most  remarkable  men  of  his  country,  particularly  in  the  line 
of  life  insurance.  Seldom  has  there  been  seen  a  man  more  constant  in  his  endeavors, 
more  liberal  in  his  views,  prompter  to  grasp  the  details  of  business,  or  one  endowed 
with  greater  executive  ability. — Le  Moniteur  du  Commerce,  Montreal,  Can. 

The  evidences  of  greatness  were  all  about  him,  but  he  remained  until  the  end 
the  same  sort  of  a  man  that  he  was  at  the  start. — Insurance  Times,  New  York. 

Among  the  giants  of  American  life  insurance  none  is  more  widely  known  than 

48 


In  Memoriam — John  Fairfield  Dryden 

the  Hon.  John  Fairfield  Dryden.  Throughout  Canada,  which  field  was  entered 
in  1909,  as  well  as  in  the  United  States  the  name  of  The  Prudential  has  become  a 
household  word. — The  Chronicle,  Montreal,  Can. 

In  thirty-five  years,  out  of  nothing,  Mr.  Dryden  has  created  insurance  pro- 
tection amounting  to  two  billion  dollars,  on  ten  million  policies.  This  he  has  done 
and  more  besides,  for  he  was  the  father  of  Industrial  insurance  in  this  country,  the 
pioneer  who  laid  the  axe  to  the  virgin  forests  of  ignorance,  prejudice  and  inexperi- 
ence, and  tilled  the  ground  and  sowed  the  seed,  which  has  resulted  in  other  billions 
of  protection  for  other  tens  of  millions  of  people.  The  world  is  much  better  for  his 
having  lived  in  it. — Insurance  Observer,  New  York. 

Something  told  him  that  he  could  put  a  life  insurance  policy  into  a  poor 
man's  cabin,  or  into  a  tenement  house,  and  he  started  out  to  do  it.  It  was  slow 
work.  He  climbed  a  hill  for  years.  But  he  would  not  stop.  His  ideal  was  dear 
to  him,  and  he  won.  The  poor  man  got  his  policy  of  insurance.  That  was  the 
victory.  We  all  know  what  came  after  that.  You  look  at  the  Prudential  buildings 
and  they  help  you  to  understand  something  about  the  vaster  building  they  sug- 
gest— life  insurance  brought  to  the  door  of  the  humblest  family  in  the  land. 

— Insurance,  New  York. 

In  public  meetings,  where  the  question  of  Industrial  insurance  was  discussed, 
he  knew  the  subject  well,  and  always  made  a  profound  impression.  In  the  financial 
world  he  became  as  potent  a  factor  as  he  was  as  insurance  president.  In  making 
investments  insurance  officials  must  use  great  discretion,  and  in  that  respect  Mr. 
Dryden  was  one  of  the  best  in  the  business  of  life  insurance. 

— Baltimore  Underwriter,  Baltimore,  Md. 

It  was  a  fitting  commentary  on  the  worth  of  its  late  president  that  all  the  Pru- 
dential offices  should  have  been  closed  during  the  day  of  the  funeral.  The  deceased 
president  was  a  friend  to  the  whole  Prudential  staff.  -—Office  and  Field,  Toronto,  Can. 

Mr.  Dryden  stood  high  not  only  in  the  realms  of  insurance,  but  was,  as  well,  a 
leader  in  politics  and  finance. — Life  Insurance  Courant,  Oak  Park,  III. 

The  fame  of  Mr.  Dryden  will  grow  with  the  years.  The  work  he  initiated  and 
perfected  affects  to-day  the  immediate  welfare  and  promotes  the  social  independence 
of  probably  twenty  million  persons,  and  the  number  is  steadily  growing  at  the  rate 
of  several  millions  a  year.  Industrial  life  insurance  carries  its  blessings  to  thousands 
of  humble  homes  every  day,  and  it  may  be  said  only  to  have  started  upon  the  path 
it  is  destined  to  follow  in  promoting  individual  and  national  thrift.  Mr.  Dryden's 
contribution  to  the  social  economies  of  the  masses  of  people  in  the  United  States 
has  been  worth  billions  to  the  country  and  will  be  worth  much  more  in  the  future. 
The  pioneer  laborer  was  well  worthy  of  his  hire. — Insurance  Field,  Louisville,  Ky. 

He  saw  a  great  work  grandly  done  and  needs  no  other  monument. 

— Underwriter's  Review,  Des  Moines,  Iowa. 

His  career  may  be  summed  up  in  one  short  sentence  of  Lowell's — "A  noble  pur- 
pose to  a  noble  end." — Money  and  Risks,  Toronto,  Can. 

His  life  is  an  illustration  of  what  confidence  in  one's  self  coupled  with  ambitious 
enterprise  may  accomplish. — Mutual  Underwriter,  Rochester,  N.  Y. 

Not  alone  because  he  was  the  president  of  a  life  insurance  company,  but  because 

49 


In  Memoriam — John  Fairfield  Dryden 

of  the  many  things  he  did,  because  of  his  many  efforts  to  leave  the  world  better  than 
he  found  it,  we  pay  tribute  to  John  F.  Dryden. — The  Adjuster,  San  Francisco,  Calif. 

John  Fairfield  Dryden  was  a  creator,  a  pathfinder,  a  leader — a  man  who  has 
left  an  enduring  mark  on  the  history  of  the  people  and  a  monument  to  his  belief  in 
small  things,  in  diligence,  in  persistency. — The  Life  Insurance  E  due  ator,  Louisville,  Ky. 

His  efforts  have  meant  help  and  hope  to  millions  of  people  who  have  been 
afforded  the  means  to  care  for  their  loved  ones  in  a  way  not  possible  with  the  ordi- 
nary opportunities  given  the  average  man. — Insurance  Vindicator,  New  Orleans,  La. 

Rarely  has  the  death  of  a  man  called  forth  so  many  expressions  of  sorrow  and 
so  many  words  of  admiration  and  affection  as  the  passing  of  John  Fairfield  Dryden, 
founder  of  The  Prudential  Insurance  Company  of  America.  In  all  of  the  utter- 
ances the  note  of  genuineness  has  been  heard.  Whether  the  President  of  the 
United  States  spoke,  or  the  humblest  citizen,  the  words  rang  true. 

Mr.  Dryden  was  a  quiet  man.  He  did  not  seek  the  limelight.  He  employed 
no  brass  bands.  Yet  how  far-reaching  was  his  influence,  how  almost  unbounded 
his  success.  Probably  he  suspected  less  than  anybody  else  how  unanimous  would 
be  the  favorable  judgment  of  his  contemporaries  regarding  his  character  and  his 
works. 

A  nation,  a  State,  a  city,  a  great  business,  the  pulpit,  hundreds  of  business 
associates,  thousands  of  fellow-citizens  have  paused  to  pay  respect  to  his  memory. 
As  an  organizer,  an  executive,  an  employer,  a  statesman,  a  citizen,  a  student,  a  poor 
man,  a  capitalist,  a  husband,  a  father,  a  friend,  a  philanthropist,  a  financier,  an 
underwriter,  he  is  spoken  of  in  praise,  and  the  testimony  comes  from  the  heart  as 
well  as  the  head. 

In  the  community  of  which  he  was  the  chief  citizen,  men  and  women  and  children 
lined  the  streets  and  bared  their  heads  when  his  body  was  borne  to  its  last  resting 
place. 

In  the  business  in  which  he  was  a  commanding  figure  his  contemporaries 
acknowledged  his  leadership  and  his  vast,  creative  work,  not  in  halting  nor  per- 
functory phrases,  but  in  the  manner  which  means  honest  respect  for  extraordinary 
worth  and  strength.  Everywhere  the  testimony  is  that  he  was  an  exceptional  man, 
one  of  the  few  who  are  born  in  a  century. 

To  be  a  man  among  men,  to  be  respected  during  life,  to  be  a  living  presence  after 
death,  requires  qualities  which,  though  not  unusual  in  themselves,  are  rarely  com- 
bined, in  adequate  measures,  in  one  man.  Mr.  Dryden  was  endowed  richly  with 
the  elements  of  greatness. 

What  are  the  qualities  that  make  a  man  successful  and  respected?     To  repeat 

the  words  of  others: 

Mr.  Dryden  was  calm,  clear-thinking,  tenacious,  persevering,  gentle,  pure  of 
speech,  pure  of  thought,  well-poised,  stanch  in  friendship,  shrewd,  kind,  hopeful,  of 
large  ideas,  far-seeing,  courageous,  constructive,  honest,  able,  energetic,  of  personal 
charm,  magnetic,  alert,  industrious,  confident,  commanding,  patient,  helpful,  skil- 
ful, determined,  earnest,  gracious,  untiring. 

Because  he  was  that  stamp  of  man,  every  day  in  the  year,  he  achieved  a  remark- 
able success.  Enduring  fame  is  his  as  the  founder  and  the  great  executive  of  The 
Prudential  Insurance  Company  of  America.  But  a  greater  possession  even  than 
that  is  the  good  opinion  of  his  associates  and  fellow-citizens.  Few  men  have  en- 
joyed that  distinction  in  a  greater  degree. — Insurance  Press,  New  York. 

50 


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Above  is  one  of  the  Greatest  Symbols  of  Business  Strength,  Stability  and  Impregnability 
the  world  has  ever  known. 

It  is  due  to  President  Drydcn's  Wisdom,  Foresight  and  Continuous  Application  of  the  Rock  of 
Gibraltar  Trade  Mark  that  the  Name  and  Fame  of  The  Prudential  arc  known  the  world  over. 


What  the  Newspapers  Said  of  Mr.  Dryden's  Career 

John  F.  Dryden  is  dead,  but  in  his  long  and  busy  and  highly  useful  life  he  built  a 
magnificent  monument  in  the  great  institution  of  which  he  was  the  creator  and 
head,  a  monument,  more  imposing  than  sculptured  stone,  that  links  him  with  the 
lives  of  millions  of  people  and  will  make  his  name  endure  as  long  as  the  principle 
upon  which  he  labored  so  long  and  with  such  splendid  ability  and  devotion  shall 
survive. 

This  work  was  a  benefaction  as  well  to  the  public  as  to  multitudes  of  people, 
mostly  of  the  poorer  class,  for  it  stripped  the  homes  of  the  poor  of  their  worst  hard- 
ship when  death  knocked  at  the  door.  It  is  due  to  John  F.  Dryden  that  thousands 
of  people  in  Newark  as  well  as  many  thousands  elsewhere  in  the  country  have  been 
given  remunerative  employment  and  that  their  work  was  made  so  agreeable  that 
it  is  eagerly  sought  for  by  wage-earners. 

New  Jersey  never  had  a  more  conscientious,  faithful  and  painstaking  Senator, 
nor  one  whose  intellectual  powers  did  more  credit  to  it.  John  F.  Dryden  possessed 
a  singular  breadth  of  mind.  With  a  remarkable  mental  grasp  he  saw  things  in 
their  larger  aspects,  and  at  the  same  time  he  was  a  master  of  detail.  He  belonged 
to  the  class  of  men  who  build — the  class  that  has  made  this  nation  by  their  genius 
and  energy. — Newark  (N.  J.)  Morning  Star. 

The  mind  that  conceived  and  the  brain  that  worked  out  the  plans  by  which  The 
Prudential  has  been  developed  from  practically  nothing  to  its  present  position  in 
the  insurance  world  was  of  no  common  mold.  When  others  were  skeptical  Mr. 
Dryden  saw  the  great  possibilities  in  Industrial  insurance,  and  his  zeal  and  energy 
never  flagged  in  putting  his  ideas  into  practical  accomplishment.  He  created  an 
institution  which  will  long  remain  a  monument  to  his  prescience,  his  perseverance 
and  his  wisdom.  It  was  as  an  insurance  man  that  Mr.  Dryden  was  at  his  greatest. 
The  continued  prosperity  and  growth  of  the  great  company  of  which  he  was  the 
head  was  to  him  a  labor  of  love,  and  to  this  he  gave  the  best  efforts  of  his  life.  His 
genius  and  conception  of  the  social  service  that  underlaid  his  view  of  his  business 
are  uppermost  in  his  authoritative  writings  on  insurance.  Other  business  enter- 
prises in  which  he  was  interested  were  merely  side  issues.  The  Prudential  was  first 
with  him  always. — Newark  (N.  J.)  News. 

The  magnitude  of  his  own  task  will  appear  even  greater  when  future  generations 
stand  amazed  at  the  vastness  of  its  results.  It  is  difficult  to  realize  it  all.  A  man 
near  middle  age,  without  power  or  influence,  with  desk  room  in  the  back  of  a  real 
estate  office,  conceives  an  idea,  and  presents  it,  with  all  the  accidences  and  weak- 
nesses of  any  other  crude  conception,  to  a  disbelieving  world.  And  from  this  it 
grows  to  an  amplitude  almost  inconceivable,  an  institution  greater  than  was  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  for  more  years  after  its  creation  than  the  company 
of  which  Mr.  Dryden  was  originator  has  now  existed.  It  is  almost  incredible  that 
a  man  who  dies  within  the  limit  which  so  many  men  still  consider  the  period  of 
activity  should  have  witnessed  such  development  of  his  own  handiwork. 

— Newark  (N.  J.)  Sunday  Call. 

No  citizen  ever  went  to  his  grave  more  highly  honored  for  his  character  and  life 
work  than  John  F.  Dryden. — Newark  (N.  J.)  Evening  Star. 

51 


In  Memoriam — John  Fairfield  Dryden 

John  F.  Dryden  of  New  Jersey,  who  died  yesterday,  will  be  remembered  as  a 
constructive  and  creative  business  man  who  gave  to  the  American  people  a  new 
and  useful  form  of  insurance.  His  death  will  recall  a  story  he  himself  was  fond  of 
telling,  of  how  the  secretary  of  the  company,  Mr.  Dryden,  and  its  chief  physician, 
Dr.  Ward,  sat  up  all  night  to  save  the  life  of  a  woman,  whose  taking  off  would 
have  bankrupted  the  infant  society. — The  Telegraphy  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

His  interest  in  military  matters  was  great,  and  the  prize  that  he  offered  for  ex- 
cellence in  marksmanship  in  both  the  military  and  naval  service  of  the  State  or  of 
the  nation  is  something  that  the  marksmen  will  hold  in  high  esteem  for  years  to 
come. — The  Observer,  Utica,  N.  Y. 

In  the  death  of  Senator  Dryden,  in  New  Jersey  recently,  the  country  has  lost  one 
of  the  greatest  of  life  insurance  men.  The  esteem  in  which  he  was  held  is  shown 
by  the  uniformly  high  tributes  paid  him  by  the  people  and  press  everywhere. 

— The  Tribune,  Salt  Lake  City,  Utah. 

He  achieved  a  place  in  that  group  of  Maine's  sons  who  have  made  their  mark  in 
the  world. — The  Express,  Portland,  Me. 

Studious  in  his  nature,  he  chose  Yale  for  the  completion  of  his  education.  What 
might  have  been  had  not  his  over-zealousness  in  study  broken  his  health  and  com- 
pelled him  to  leave  here  with  his  course  incomplete  we  can  not  tell.  It  is  apparent 
that  the  interruption  in  his  studies  changed  the  current  of  his  life  materially.  Per- 
haps his  glimpse  of  the  frailty  of  health  set  him  to  thinking  about  life  insurance. 
That,  evidently,  was  his  work.  His  contribution  to  the  American  insurance  struc- 
ture was  a  considerable  one.  The  country  owes  him  much,  and  for  especial  reasons 
will  long  remember  him. — The  Register,  New  Haven,  Conn. 

To  this  little  town  away  up  among  the  foothills  of  Mt.  Blue  belongs  the  honor 
of  producing  some  of  the  most  eminent  and  noted  men.  One  of  these  was  the  late 
John  Fairfield  Dryden,  whose  recent  death  has  called  out  sketches  of  his  life  and 
remarkably  successful  career  from  the  newspapers  all  over  the  country.  Mr.  Dry- 
den was  certainly  a  man  of  wonderful  business  capacity. 

— The  Chronicle,  Farmington,  Me. 

His  eminence  was  attained  in  the  business  world  by  his  ability  as  the  organizer 
and  head  of  one  of  the  greatest  financial  institutions  of  the  world.  Mr.  Dryden 
was  a  man  of  great  business  sagacity  and  of  almost  unerring  business  judgment. 
He  was  a  publicist,  but  not  a  politician  or  a  statesman.  Mr.  Dryden  is  sincerely 
mourned  by  hosts  of  friends  and  admirers  in  private  and  public  life. 

— Orange  (N.  J.)  Chronicle. 

He  was  the  typification  of  the  best  that  America  claims  for  its  peerless 
citizenship. — Paterson  (N.  J.)  Evening  News. 

A  few  years  ago  when  the  searchlight  of  publicity  was  thrown  upon  the  great 
life  insurance  companies  in  this  country,  Mr.  Dryden  and  The  Prudential  stood  the 
test  without  the  revelation  of  a  single  discreditable  act  or  condition. 

— Trenton  (N.  J.)  State  Gazette. 

52 


In  Memoriam — John  Fairfield  Dryden 

Mr.  Dryden  was  an  insurance  expert.  His  knowledge  of  the  business  was 
grounded  on  close  and  persistent  study  of  the  economic  principles  of  insurance. 

— Camden  (N.  J.)  Post-Telegram. 

In  all  the  panegyrics  and  encomiums  delivered  by  eminent  preachers  and  those 
high  in  business  and  professional  circles,  who  had  been  associated  with  him  or  were 
familiar  with  the  reputation  of  this  remarkable  man,  there  was  not  a  scintilla  of 
exaggeration  or  attempt  at  fulsomeness. — Newark  (N.  J.)  Town  Talk. 

He  has  shown  what  a  young  man  of  humble  but  honest  birth  can  accomplish 
and  the  kind  of  a  heritage  he  can  leave  for  the  benefit  of  humanity. 

— Plainfield  (N.  J.)  Courier-News. 

John  Fairfield  Dryden,  who  died  yesterday,  was  one  of  the  country's  greatest 
constructive  business  men.  His  great  life  work  was  the  placing  of  life  insurance 
within  the  reach  of  the  poor  as  well  as  the  rich. 

— New  Brunswick  (N.  J.)  Home  News. 

His  business  success  was  marvelous,  and  his  name  and  company  are  known  all 
over  the  world.  At  home  Mr.  Dryden  was  an  ideal  citizen,  with  means  and  inclin- 
ations which  caused  him  to  be  liberal  in  charity  and  all  uplift  work. 

— Jersey  City  (N.  J.)  Journal. 

His  writings  on  insurance,  we  believe,  are  among  the  classics  of  that  business. 

— Montclair  (N.  J.)  Times. 

A  great  man  is  dead!  John  F.  Dryden  was  a  remarkable  man  in  every  respect. 
It  is  said  that  some  are  born  great,  others  have  greatness  thrust  upon  them,  still 
others  achieve  greatness.  Senator  Dryden  was  of  the  latter  class.  He  was  not 
born  of  the  aristocracy,  neither  did  he  have  influential  associations.  What  he 
accomplished  was  achieved,  and  in  that  sense  he  was  truly  great. 

— Bridgeton  (N.  J.)  Evening  News. 

His  life  should  ever  be  an  incentive  to  young  men,  as  it  is  an  object  lesson  of  the 
power  of  concentration  and  hard  work  to  overcome  difficulties. 

— Morristown  (N.  J.)  Jerseyman. 


53 


Tributes  from  Officers  and  Home  Office  Department  Heads 
of  The  Prudential  Insurance  Company 

The  master  mind  which  devised,  fostered  and  extended  the  beneficent  results 
of  Industrial  insurance,  which  has  brought  so  much  comfort  through  material  aid 
to  the  poor  in  their  time  of  greatest  need,  can  ill  be  spared,  and  the  man  who  has 
stood  for  integrity  and  all  civic  righteousness  will  be  sorely  missed.  I  shall  never 
forget  the  charming  cordiality  and  the  kindly  reception  which  always  greeted  me 
at  the  board  meetings. — William  T.  Carter,  Director. 

Among  President  Dryden's  most  prominent  characteristics  were  breadth  of 
mind,  energy  and  thoroughness.  At  a  time  when  the  two  former  are  being  referred 
to  by  so  many  of  his  friends  and  admirers  it  seems  appropriate  to  refer  to  the 
latter  characteristic. 

His  thoroughness  was  best  known,  perhaps,  to  those  who  had  the  privilege  of 
associating  with  him  in  business.  He  knew  life  insurance  in  all  its  phases  more 
completely  than  anyone  I  have  ever  met.  When  investments  were  being  con- 
sidered he  was  a  financier,  when  the  legal  side  of  the  business  was  under  discussion 
he  was  a  lawyer,  and  from  the  scientific  standpoint  he  was  an  actuary. 

As  an  illustration  of  his  thoroughness,  it  was  the  unanimous  comment  of  those 
who  followed  his  testimony  before  the  Armstrong  Committee,  in  1905,  that  "Senator 
Dryden  knew  his  company's  business  more  thoroughly  than  any  life  insurance 
president  who  appeared  before  the  Committee." 

It  is  pleasant  to  remember  also  that  with  all  his  business  cares  and  with  all  his 
interest  in  the  affairs  of  State  and  nation,  he  never  forgot  to  inquire  anxiously  as  to 
the  health  of  some  employee  whom  he  had  perhaps  known  in  the  early  struggling 
days  of  the  company  and  of  whose  illness  he  had  learned. 

John  F.  Dryden  was  one  of  the  great  men  of  his  generation. 

— John  K.  Gore,  Vice  President  and  Actuary. 

On  January  17,  1876,  I  called  at  the  office  of  the  Prudential  Friendly  Society, 
which  was  then  located  in  the  basement  of  No.  810  Broad  street,  to  speak  to  Mr. 
Dryden,  who  then  showed  me  with  pride  the  entry  on  the  policy  ledger  of  the 
issuance  of  our  five  hundredth  policy.  The  application  in  this  case  bears  the  num- 
ber 500  in  bold  figures,  in  Mr.  Dryden's  handwriting.  Although  this  policy  was 
for  only  3100,  it  was  indeed  a  milestone,  showing  progress  and  an  evidence  of  future 
possibilities.  The  enthusiasm  of  the  Prudential  founder  indicated  that  the  true 
Prudential  spirit  was  even  in  those  early  days  to  be  reckoned  with,  and  that  spirit 
has  steadily  grown,  and  to-day  is  possibly  the  greatest  heritage  left  to  the  company 
by  its  eminent  leader,  who  devoted  his  life  to  the  formation  and  development  of  this 
company,  now  standing  in  the  front  rank,  a  synonym  of  strength  and  stability. 

The  history  of  the  company  during  the  year  1876  was  a  series  of  discouraging 
events  which  almost  made  the  stockholders  believe  their  investment  was  without 
value;  but  the  enthusiastic  optimism  of  Mr.  Dryden  kept  the  few  agents  then  em- 
ployed loyal  and  industrious.  At  that  time  it  was  thought  best  to  learn,  if  possible, 
more  about  the  business  methods  of  the  English  Prudential,  and  accordingly  Mr. 

54 


In  Memoriam — John  Fairfield  Dryden 

Dryden  crossed  the  ocean.  Through  his  charming  personality  he  was,  though  a 
stranger,  shown  every  courtesy  by  the  officers  of  the  great  London  company  and 
given  every  opportunity  to  study  their  ways  of  doing  the  Industrial  business,  and 
he  soon  returned,  better  equipped  than  ever,  to  establish  the  great  business  of  In- 
dustrial insurance  upon  a  firm  footing  for  the  first  time  in  America. 

Through  the  entire  history  of  this  company  his  wonderful  grasp  of  all  its  details 
has  been  the  admiration  of  both  the  office  and  the  field  force,  and  he  was  always  in 
close  touch  with  that  exceedingly  important  matter,  the  selection  of  investments 
for  the  funds  of  the  company,  and  was  largely  responsible  for  its  admirable  list  of 
securities. — Jacob  E.  Ward,  Second  Vice  President. 

Wherever  Industrial  insurance  is  prosecuted  men  engaged  in  the  work  have 
reason  to  bless  the  foresight,  the  judgment  and  the  perseverance  of  the  man  who 
against  great  odds  battled  and  won  the  battle  for  the  successful  establishment  of  a 
scheme  of  life  insurance  which  reached  down  and  ministered  to  the  needs  of  millions 
of  our  people  who  depend  upon  their  industry  for  their  support. 

He  was  earnest  himself  and  had  the  power  of  communicating  this  earnestness  to 
others  in  such  a  degree  that  he  never  met  an  individual  member  of  the  force  or  a 
body  of  our  representatives  without  conveying  to  them  clearer,  brighter,  better 
views  of  the  business  than  they  already  had.  Everything  had  to  give  way  to  this 
principle :  The  Prudential  must  in  all  its  departments,  office  or  field,  represent  the 
best  in  life  insurance. 

A  request  from  him,  in  the  kindly,  friendly  and  encouraging  way  he  presented  it, 
was  like  a  clarion  call  to  the  men  associated  with  him;  and  to  this  readiness  to  at- 
tempt anything  he  asked  is  attributable  the  splendid  achievements  of  Prudential 
men — achievements  which  made  history  in  life  insurance  and  assisted  vastly  in 
building  up  The  Prudential.     He  asked  for,  expected,  and  gave  the  best. 

— Edward  Gray,  4th  Vice  President. 

He  alone  knew  the  obstacles  which  were  overcome  during  the  early  years  of 
the  company's  existence.  To  one  less  determined  they  would  have  precluded 
success.  To  him  they  were  mere  incentives  to  renewed  efforts.  He  never  doubted. 
Where  others  faltered,  he  stood  firm.  Where  others  wavered,  he  was  steadfast. 
Where  others  hesitated,  he  advanced.  He  solved  every  problem  which  has  con- 
fronted the  company  throughout  its  history. 

Success  never  blinded  him  to  the  character  of  the  business  in  which  the  com- 
pany was  engaged.  He  was  fully  conscious  of  the  character  of  the  trust  imposed 
upon  him.  His  constant  aim  was  to  adequately  safeguard  the  savings  of  those 
who  had  trusted  in  the  company.  To  protect  and  conserve  their  interests  was  an 
impelling  motive  in  his  life. 

To  those  who  were  connected  with  the  company  he  always  exhibited  the  most 
kindly  interest  and  consideration.  To  all  who  were  in  any  way  brought  in  contact 
with  him  he  will  be  remembered  as  a  notable  example  of  gentlemanly  courtesy. 
The  purity  of  his  character  and  the  nobility  of  his  life  will  remain  an  inspiration 
for  his  associates  and  his  untarnished  name  an  endowment  to  the  company  of 
which  he  was  the  founder. — Edward  D.  Dufield,  General  Solicitor. 

A  national  calamity  has  befallen  us  and  our  hearts  are  filled  with  grief,  but  the 
colossal  achievements  of  a  great  career  will  endure  for  all  time.       *• 

— Willard  I.  Hamilton,  Secretary. 

55 


In  Memoriam — John  Fairfield  Dryden 

The  esteem  amounting  to  reverence  which  was  held  by  all  those  who  had  the 
good  fortune  to  be  associated  with  him  in  any  capacity  has  always  been  felt  by  me. 

— F.  H.  Johnston,  Associate  Actuary. 

Throughout  every  act  of  his  business  life  can  be  read  the  inflexible  purpose  to 
do  his  duty  as  he  conceived  it,  not  for  material  ends  but  for  the  realization  of  higher 
purposes  and  for  the  common  good.  Chance  had  no  place  in  his  plans  and  purposes, 
for  he  felt  keenly  his  great  responsibility  and  personal  answerableness  for  the  ulti- 
mate results  of  any  measure  to  which  he  gave  his  consent. 

Mr.  Dryden  was  thirty-six  years  old  when  he  established  The  Prudential  and 
seventy-two  years  at  his  death.  Half  of  his  life,  therefore,  was  given  to  the  build- 
ing of  the  institution  to  which  he  devoted  himself  with  a  singleness  of  purpose  and 
the  loftiest  motives  met  with  in  a  business  life.  He  leaves  in  The  Prudential  a  herit- 
age to  the  American  nation  of  greater  intrinsic  worth  than  philanthropic  endowments 
or  charities  or  gifts  by  whatsoever  name. — Frederick  L.  Hoffman,  Statistician. 

His  life  was  such  that  I  have  always  felt  it  an  honor  to  be  associated  with  the 
institution  that  was  his  great  life  work. — H.  E.  Krause,  Assistant  Actuary. 

Possessing  an  astounding  power  of  marshaling  facts,  he  brought  convictions 
where  others  failed.  A  rare  combination  of  gentleness  and  forcefulness,  he  com- 
manded the  admiration  and  respect  of  all  his  colleagues  and  thus  became  a  dominant 
factor  in  all  deliberations  in  which  he  was  a  participant. 

— Late  George  W.  Rouzer,  Secretary  to  the  President. 

Of  the  men  of  his  day  and  generation,  I  am  unable  to  recall  in  the  history  of  the 
United  States  any  one  in  public  or  private  life  who  has  done  more  practical  good  for 
the  uplift  and  benefit  of  his  fellow-men.  Indeed,  it  can  be  said  in  perfect  sincerity 
and  with  absolute  truth: 

"His  life  was  gentle,  and  the  elements 

So  mixed  in  him  that  Nature  might  stand  up 

And  say  to  all  the  world,  'This  was  a  Man.' 

— Joseph  Atkinson,  Editor  "The  Weekly  Record." 


Mr.  Dryden  and  His  Grandchildren 

Aside  from  the  interests  of  The  Prudential,  which  were  his  pride,  Mr.  Dryden's 
chief  delight  was  found  in  the  company  of  his  grandchildren — the  children  of  his  son 
and  those  of  his  daughter.  It  was  to  them  that  he  turned  for  pleasure  and  relaxa- 
tion and  in  their  chatter  he  found  his  greatest  joy. 

Once  he  said,  in  the  course  of  a  political  discussion,  that  he  would  rather  be 
story-teller-in-chief  to  his  grandchildren  and  their  king  than  President  of  the  United 
States  or  Emperor  of  the  Universe. 

His  Charities 
Always  liberal  in  thought,  Mr.  Dryden  was  equally  as  free  in  work  of  charity. 
He,  however,  made  no  show  of  what  he  did  in  this  direction. 

— From  the  Newark  (N.  J.)  News,  November  25, 1911. 

His  wonderful  career  revealed  a  determined,  unswerving,  purposeful  industry 
matched  by  but  few  men.     His  enthusiasm  and  assurance  were  contagious. 

Mr.  Dryden  was  a  true  and  liberal  friend  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Asso- 
ciation.— From  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  Monthly  Messenger,  Newark,  N.  J. 

56 


President  Dryden' s  Love  for  the  Prudential  Old  Guard 


Which  Has  Over  5,000  Members 

In  January,  1910,  President  Dryden  issued  the  following  letter: 

To  Comrades,  Present  and  Prospective,  of  the  Prudential  Old  Guard: 

Conceived  in  the  spirit  of  comradeship,  organized,  perfected  and  extended  in 
the  interest  of  our  great  common  cause,  the  Prudential  Old  Guard  has  reached  pro- 
portions of  incalculable  importance  to  Prudential  well-being. 

As  one  of  the  oldest  members  in  point  of  service,  if  not  in  years,  I  desire  in 
this  way  to  express  to  my  colleagues  the  feeling  of  pleasure  and  intense  pride  I 
have  experienced  in  being  the  recipient  of  the  certificate  and  badge  advancing  me 
to  the  highest  class  in  our  unique  and  important  organization. 

To  those  of  the  same  class,  who  stood  shoulder  to  shoulder  with  me  in  our 
early  trials  and  tribulations,  to  those  coming  along  later,  whose  valiant  work 
aided  in  expanding  success  into  results  of  such  magnificent  proportions,  I  shall 
ever  feel  grateful,  and  to  those  yet  to  come  I  extend  my  sincere  best  wishes  for 
veteran  membership  with  all  that  that  implies. 

An  honorable  organization,  with  our  comrades  engaged  in  an  honorable  avoca- 
tion, membership  therein  is  synonymous  with  loyalty,  integrity,  high  character 
and  all  that  contributes  to  a  successful  Prudential  man. 

President  Dryden  Likened  the  Prudential  Old  Guard  to  Napoleon's 

At  a  dinner  of  the  company  held  in  New  York,  February  13,  1889,  President 
Dryden  said,  in  speaking  of  the  Prudential  Old  Guard:  "It  typifies  fidelity, 
loyalty  and  persistency  in  the  company's  interests,  and  we  mean,  gentlemen,  to 
make  that  organization  signify  something  to  you — something  tangible  and  practical 
in  your  relations  with  the  company.  We  want  that  organization  to  feel  that  we 
have  the  same  confidence  in  it  that  Napoleon  had  in  that  grand  organization  of  his, 
whose  skill,  bravery  and  achievements  electrified  the  world,  when  he  said,  'The 
Old  Guard  dies,  but  never  surrenders.'  And  so  the  Prudential  'Guard'  will  never 
surrender  until  the  Prudential  flag  is  carried  into  every  city  and  town  of  this  great 
domain." 


57 


President  Dryden' s  Successes 

Senator  Dryden  was  the  man  to  carry  out  with  marked  success  the  first  adver- 
tising campaign  of  great  magnitude  ever  undertaken  by  a  life  insurance  company 
and  through  his  efforts  and  the  consistent  and  constant  publicity  of  the  forcible 
trade-mark  of  this  Company,  "The  Prudential  Has  the  Strength  of  Gibraltar," 
he  made  the  name  of  The  Prudential  a  household  word  the  land  over. 


When  in  the  Senate  he  presented  a  valuable  trophy,  known  as  the  Dryden 
Trophy,  with  the  purpose  of  increasing  the  efficiency  in  marksmanship  among 
the  National  Guard  and  Regular  Army  and  Navy  organizations  of  the  United 
States. 


President  Dryden  was  undoubtedly  one  of  the  foremost  figures  in  the  life  insur- 
ance world.  In  disposition  he  was  noted  for  his  charm  and  gentleness  of  manner, 
combined  with  a  high  degree  of  forcefulness.  By  his  associates  in  business  and  his 
friends  he  was  highly  esteemed  and  loved. 


Senator  Dryden's  home  life  was  ideal.  An  atmosphere  of  perfect  congeniality 
and  mutual  affection  pervaded  the  entire  family  circle,  and  although  he  and  Mrs. 
Dryden  were  fond  of  society,  in  the  usual  acceptance  of  that  term,  they  were 
fonder  still  of  quiet  home  pleasures. 


In  1895  he  appeared  before  the  insurance  committee  of  the  Massachusetts 
Legislature  and,  in  a  speech  full  of  the  facts  and  figures  of  experience,  successfully 
demonstrated  the  fallacies  of  the  proposed  bill  to  prohibit  the  insurance  of  children. 


The  steady  faith,  the  unconquerable  will  and  indomitable  energy  of  Mr.  Dryden 
in  his  early  days  carried  the  company  through  several  crises  and  overcame  many 
formidable  difficulties,  until  The  Prudential  became  firmly  planted  and  began  its 
great  growth.  The  Prudential  has  now  over  259  million  dollars  in  assets,  241  million 
dollars  of  liabilities,  including  202  million  dollars  of  reserve.  The  surplus  is  over 
18  million  dollars. 

As  United  States  Senator  Mr.  Dryden  secured  for  New  Jersey  the  construction 
of  some  of  the  Government's  largest  war  vessels,  and  had  returned  to  the  State  of 
New  Jersey  over  3600,000,  interest  due  to  the  State  from  the  Federal  Government 
on  unpaid  Civil  War  claims. 

58 


First  application  received  by  The  Prudential  Friendly  Society,  November  10,  1875. 


Not  to  be  nile J  I   fJn  / 

In  by  tbeAgant.  iMlu — -  / 

ADULT    APPLICATION. 

THE  PRUDENTIAL  FRIENDLY  SOCIETY, 


DECLARATION  TO  BE  SIGNED  BY  THE  APPLICANT. 

I  declare  that  the  answers  to  questions  Nos.  1  to  20  inclusive,  hereinafter  stated,  are  strictly  correct,  and  that  I  have 
withheld  no  material  information.  I  agree  that  those  answers  and  this  statement  shall  be  the  basis  of  the  contract 
between  me  and  The  Prudential  Friendly  Socikty  for  securing  the  benefit  herein  applied  for,  and  which,  if  granted, 
shall  be  on  terms  contained  in  aach  Certificate  of  Membership,  as  shall  be  issued  in  pursuance  of  this  Application.  And 
when  such  Certificate  shall  be  issued  I  agree  to  conform  to  the  rules  and  regulations  of  the  said  Society,  which  are  now 
or  may  hereaftpe-be  established. 

Witnesa^^Mk*C**l^Z^^                            Signature  of  Applicant^ 
AT"     Dated  this-    - /5f .  day  of 131 


^^ 

^ht^C 

r  - — 

^^^tr^: 

•# 

04£**^^ 

€^»_^ 

^ 

<*3o.~ 

Wktt  to  your  baigbt  and  waffbt  t • 

^£"        toot. 

• 

0          inches. 

/X 

l"*"*ib*. 

^Z^o 

If  living,  what  is  taeir  health  f  If  dead,  state 

Sf e  at  death  I 

+-? 

An  you  now  and  bare  you  always  bean 

aobaT  and 

^a^.  — 

'<^ 

y5£— -CP 

1L    How  long  aim*  yoa  havo  baen  sick  or  cons 

ilted  with  a 

-X- 

r 

Bancroft  Ubran 


First  application  received  by  The  Prudential  Friendly  Society,  November  10,  1875. 


12.  Have  you  ever  suffered  from  Bronchitis.  AMhrna,  Spitting 
of  Blood.  Disease  of  the  Lungs,  Heart  ot  Liver.  Apo- 
plexy. Paralysis.  Insanity  Lombago.  Erysipelas,  or 
any  other  eertoas  disease*  '■ 


IS.     Is  there  any  hereditary  dleeaae  in  yoar  family?. 


*^t? 


>^t> 


14  Is  there  anything  in  your  Physical  Condition.  Habits, 
Residence  or  Occupation  thai  makes  a  risk  on  four 
life  or  health  more  Hian  esoatly  haaardoas? 

15      Have  yon  ever  been  rejected  by  any  Life  Insurance  Co  J 


18     What  m  the  average  amount  of  your  wages  or  salary?.... 
fm  i  tinilin  mmt  mm  k«  *M»fr*4  ani*M  a  >e»*fi  M  tick  mm  it  c«w«i.i 


17.  Are  you  ntrw  entitled  to  receive  from  this  or  any  other 
Society  or  Company,  any  payment  in  ease  of  sickness7 
If  so,  what  are  yon  entitled  to  receive  > 

(Unt***«bMM«t  «i  ttcfcrnnt  i  «rtir«4  *H  «wtt>*n  Mad  Mt  b*  »mw«»«1  ; 


S<^T, 


y^- 


ltfU£*2A^~    *-f*. 


-     >fw->A 


^ 


/o^rtn. 


'rU 


ll     What  benefit  do  yon  now  apply  for  » 


Weekly  when  sick  Annually  after  65, 

until  66, 


At  Death. 


Ml     How  often  do  yoa  wish  to  pay  contributions  \ 

2ft     Name  and  Relationship  of  the   party  to  whorr.  benefit  in 
esse  of  death  is  to  be  paid- 


Name. 
Relationship 


Table 


Name 
Address 


Names  and  addresses  of  two  persons  acquainted  with  your  health  to  be  referred  to  if  desirable 

Name 

Address 


AGENT'S    REPORT 


A.    Has  the  Applicant  a  healthy  or  unhealthy  appearance '... 


/fatt&ys 


M.    Does  the  applicint  ihow  any  indications  of  Intemperance'  i  rt<0 


C     Is  the  Applicant   urn*  or   Mind,  or  U  there  any  physical 
defect  or  infirmity  ? 


D     I*  the  Pamrfy  of  the  Applicant  Consumptive*. 


K.  From  .nau.net  personally  made  are  you  satisfied  that  the 
AppHcam  is  h)  every  way  thoroughly  sound  and 
healthy' 


P.    Dees  the  Applicant  appear  to  be  of  the  age  stated' 


C    Ooa*  the  Appfacam  appear  to  ha  m  good  circumsiancea, 
and  sale  to  heap  up  the  membership! 


I  hav.  thig  /*  -  dtY  0,      }PfyC*H&en^  187^  tKTtonatly  seefr^, 

of  opinion  (hat  he  is  in     £fGr&3ts    •  health,  and  Recommend  the  Society  to  accept  the  Appl.cat 


cla»«  rates. 


c\ 


*  State  whether  good  Indifferent  or  bad. 
I  Kill  m  Art* .  second  or  third  clasa 


JHy,1Ca>W"'i  amy 
tiorf  at-JLJ^^d/^ 


Some  Sayings  of  Mr.  Dryden 

Industrial  insurance  is  the  greatest  educator  of  thrift  that  has  ever  been  intro- 
duced to  the  American  public. 


Lincoln  and  Hamilton  are  foremost  types  of  American  ideals  in  constructive 
statesmanship.  A  lifelong  Republican  and  a  firm  believer  in  party  government 
and  party  responsibility,  my  course  in  public  life  has  been  profoundly  influenced 
by  the  teachings  of  these  two  men,  and  the  influence  of  Lincoln  and  Hamilton  on 
the  acts  of  my  public  life  has  extended  to  the  conduct  of  the  great  institution 
which  I  had  the  honor  and  privilege  to  establish  in  1875. 


Social  institutions,  like  political  institutions,  can  endure  only  if  there  is  economic 

justification  for  their  existence,  and  if  they  prove  their  social  utility  by  successful 

adaptation  and  readaptation  to  the  ever-changing  conditions  and  circumstances 

of  political  and  social  life.     As  far  as  it  has  been  within  my  power,  I  have  tried  to 

carry  this  conviction  into  effect  in  every  important  act  of  my  public  and  business 

life. 

****** 

The  management  of  The  Prudential  Insurance  Company  is  a  relationship  of 
trust  for  millions  of  persons  in  all  the  varying  walks  of  life.  The  justification  of  the 
Company's  existence  is  its  advancement  of  the  efforts  of  its  policyholders  and  their 
families  for  better  economic  and  social  conditions.  The  successful  administration 
of  its  business  calls  for  the  most  intimate  possible  knowledge  of  the  conditions 
which  confront  the  industrial  classes.  In  numberless  ways  the  daily  incidents  of 
the  business  stimulate  a  sympathetic  desire  to  aid  all  those  who  have  given  the 
company  their  trust  and  confidence  in  their  efforts  to  attain  to  better  things. 


The  business  that  stays  is  the  business  that  pays. 


Industrial  insurance  in  years  to  come  is  certain  to  develop  into  an  agency  of 
still  greater  usefulness  and  assume  more  and  more  the  character  of  a  vast  social 
institution  through  which  most  of  the  uncertainties  of  life  will  be  effectively  pro- 
vided for. 

****** 

For  thirty  years  we  have  managed  the  company  with  but  a  single  thought, 
and  that  has  been  to  make  The  Prudential  not  only  one  of  the  greatest  but  also 
one  of  the  best  life  insurance  companies  in  the  world.  We  have  been  successful, 
and  The  Prudential  has  become  in  America  synonymous  with  honesty  and  strength. 

59 


From  President  Dryden's  Speeches 

It  was  not  until  the  establishment  of  The  Prudential  Insurance  Company  that 
a  plan  of  insurance  founded  upon  a  system  as  lasting  as  the  eternal  rocks,  a  system 
that  would  stand  every  test  of  science,  every  financial  revulsion,  that  would  live 
through  all  time  and  all  conditions,  not  until  then,  I  say,  was  there  organized  in 
this  country  a  company  which  met,  and  met  completely,  the  demands  of  the  in- 
dustrial classes  of  America.  It  has  always  been,  and  I  hope  it  always  may  be,  the 
primal  aim  of  this  company  that  security  shall  stand  first  and  liberality  second. 
In  point  of  liberalizing,  in  point  of  studying  the  welfare  of  its  policyholders,  in 
point  of  perfecting  a  comprehensive  and  equitable  scheme  of  life  insurance,  The 
Prudential  has  blazed  the  way  to  some  of  the  most  magnificent  improvements 
ever  contemplated.  In  wherever  there  has  been  an  advance  you  will  find  The 
Prudential.  If  it  was  original  with  us,  well  and  good.  If  it  was  conceived  by  some- 
body else,  we  have  not  been  too  proud  to  give  our  policyholders  the  benefit  of  it. 
The  Prudential,  that  little  spot  which  rose  above  the  horizon  twenty-five  years 
ago  and  was  so  small  that  none  of  the  financial  astronomers,  as  they  swept  the 
heavens  with  their  glasses,  could  make  it  out,  has  risen  to  the  very  zenith,  and  by 
its  lustre  shines  a  star  of  the  first  magnitude. 

— Extract  from  speech  made  by  President  Dryden  on  the  Silver  Anniversary  of  the 
Company  at  the  Waldorf-Astoria  Banquet,  1900. 

We  believe  that  The  Prudential  as  a  representative  in  life  insurance  stands  in 
the  very  front  rank.  If  there  is  a  company  that  offers  a  better  contract  to  the  public, 
I  do  not  know  it.  If  there  is  a  company  with  a  whiter  record,  I  do  not  know  it.  If 
there  is  a  company  that  deals  more  fairly  by  its  policyholders,  I  do  not  know  it. 
And  if  there  is  such  a  one,  you  gentlemen  point  it  out  to  me  and  I  will  guarantee 
that  we  will  do  better. 

— Extract  from  speech  made  by  President  Dryden  before  the  Ordinary  Agencies  in 
1903. 

This  is  a  wonderful  business,  gentlemen,  in  which  you  are  engaged.  I  speak  of 
it  now  not  from  the  confines  of  The  Prudential's  work,  but  from  that  great,  broad 
arena  which  comprehends  the  whole  scheme  of  life  insurance  and  may  be  found  in 
operation  in  every  country  of  the  civilized  world — a  business  with  a  noble  history, 
a  business  with  a  lofty  aim,  a  business  with  a  magnificent  purpose,  a  business  with 
splendid  results.  Like  most  good  and  enduring  things,  its  birth  was  humble  and 
early  advancement  difficult.  Originating  back  in  remote  antiquity,  it  has  moved 
forward  by  slow  stages,  but  in  regular  gradation,  until  to-day  it  stands  upon  a 
solid  basis  and  challenges  the  admiration  of  the  whole  world.  It  could  not  be  re- 
moved from  the  great  scheme  of  the  social  and  political  economy  of  our  civilization 
without  bringing  a  disaster  upon  the  human  race  which  no  man  can  foresee  or 
measure. 

An  Industrial  company  like  The  Prudential  offers  to  the  people  a  perfected  and 
well-rounded-out  scheme  of  life  insurance,  in  that  it  places  its  blessings  within  the 
reach  of  all  classes,  male  and  female,  rich  and  poor  alike.  It  is  the  highest  develop- 
ment of  life  insurance  in  existence. 

— Extract  from  speech  at  a  reunion  of  Officers  and  Agents,  January  10, 1900. 

60 


Interesting  Extracts  from  Letters  to  the  Prudential  Field 
Staff  by  the  Late  President  Dryden 

As  an  old  faithful  employee  of  our  company  we  esteem  your  work;  have  entire 
confidence  in  your  integrity  and  desire,  as  does  the  Superintendent,  that  you  with 
the  other  old  Agents  should  be  a  model  of  accuracy  for  all  the  younger  Agents  in 
our  company. — May  25, 1880. 

We  measure  every  man  by  that  word  "Results."  It  is  nothing  to  us  that  a 
man  comes  with  a  thousand  excuses  why  he  has  not  succeeded.  It  is  much  to  us 
if  he  comes  with  success  accomplished  without  any  excuse.  One  man  who  succeeds 
is  worth  more  to  us  than  a  thousand  who  come  with  reasons  why  they  have  not 
succeeded. — October  5,  1880. 

A  wise  man  always  turns  experience  to  good  account. — December  20,  1880. 

Long  may  your  flag  wave,  and  may  you,  as  you  wish,  double  your  debit  during 
the  coming  year!     You  shall  have  our  earnest  co-operation  to  that  end. 

— November  4, 1882. 

It  is  acknowledged  that  collecting  premiums  during  the  hot  weather  is  far 
more  laborious  than  canvassing,  and  it  is  expected  that,  during  the  heated  term 
which  will  soon  be  upon  us,  new  business  will  be  pushed  forward  with  greater  vigor 
and  earnestness  than  heretofore.  Continued  effort,  repeated  canvassing  of  the 
same  house,  and  a  determination  to  insure  those  who  are  not  insured  are  bound  to 
succeed  in  the  end,  and  that  man  who  is  the  most  persistent  will  make  the  most 
money. — May  31,  1887. 

The  twenty-fifth  anniversary  of  the  establishment  of  our  company,  which 
occurs  next  Saturday,  October  13th,  is  an  occasion  of  such  interest  and  importance 
as  to  call  for  more  than  passing  notice.  To  this  company,  started,  as  you  are  all 
aware,  in  the  most  modest  and  unassuming  way,  in  Newark,  a  quarter  of  a  century 
ago,  destiny  assigned  the  task  of  introducing  to  the  New  World  a  system  of  life 
insurance  self-help  for  the  industrial  masses  entirely  new  to  it,  so  far  as  practical 
operation  was  concerned.  It  was  for  this  company  to  take  Old  World  ideas,  plans 
and  methods  and  radically  reconstruct  them,  so  that  they  could  be  successfully 
applied  in  this  country — an  undertaking  that,  because  of  the  widely  different 
circumstances,  conditions  and  ways  of  living  of  the  great  bodies  of  the  American 
people,  was  believed  at  the  time,  by  almost  every  one  who  had  given  the  subject 
attention,  to  be  simply  a  dream  of  Utopia.  How  well  the  company  has  fulfilled 
this  task;  how  marvelously  successful  it  has  been  in  surmounting  every  obstacle 
and  difficulty  that  confronted  it  from  the  very  inception,  no  matter  how  formidable 
or  how  discouraging;  how  gloriously  it  has  added  triumph  to  triumph  throughout 
its  entire  career — all  this  is  attested  to,  in  a  degree  and  with  an  eloquence  that  can 
not  be  expressed  in  words,  by  not  only  what  it  has  itself  achieved  as  an  institution 
of  world-wide  fame  and  of  national  operations,  influence  and  importance,  but  by 
what  its  example  and  signally  successful  pioneering  called  into  existence — the  whole 
great  Industrial  insurance  system  that  is  now  reaching  out  its  beneficent  hands 
all  over  the  American  continent. — October  8, 1900. 

61 


In  Memoriam — John  Fairfield  Dryden 

The  Presidential  election  is  now  a  thing  of  the  past.  Upon  the  issues  pre- 
sented to  them  for  consideration  during  the  late  campaign  the  American  people 
have  declared  their  verdict.  This,  generally  speaking,  is  that  there  shall  be  no 
change  of  administration  or  national  policy  for  the  next  four  years.  As  for  the 
way  in  which  this  verdict  has  been  received  by  the  whole  people  of  the  United  States 
— the  ready,  cheerful  and  universal  acquiescence  yielded  to  the  judgment  rendered 
— nothing  could  be  more  gratifying  to  every  lover  of  American  institutions;  nothing 
could  more  assuringly  and  eloquently  bespeak  their  power,  their  strength,  their 
stability  and  their  perpetuity.  Now  is  the  very  flood-tide  of  opportunity  for  "the 
man  behind  the  pen"  to  show  his  skill  in  securing  high-grade  Industrial  and  Ordi- 
nary applications,  likewise  the  company's  standard  of  collections.  Upon  him 
alone  will  rest  the  blame  if  he  fails  to  see  and  use  it  to  his  purpose. 

—November  12, 1900. 

As  regards  peace,  plenty,  and  prosperity,  we  continue  to  be  the  most  favored 
among  the  great  nations  of  the  earth.  Our  progress  is  the  marvel  of  the  world; 
our  success  its  envy.  So  far  as  our  own  line  of  activity  is  concerned  our  territory 
is  a  soil  of  such  exceeding  richness  for  the  expert  and  up-to-date  Prudential  hus- 
bandman that  it  fairly  teems  with  opportunity  for  both  Industrial  and  Ordinary. 
What  we  want,  then,  as  the  result  of  this  fall  campaign  is  business  that  will  stick; 
business  that  will  stay  and  pay,  pay  and  stay;  business  that  will  be  a  source  of 
benefit  to  all  concerned  in  it  and  an  element  of  strength  and  stability  to  the 
company.  It  is  only  by  giving  us  business  of  this  high-grade,  permanent,  and 
persistent  character  in  ample  volume  that  this  fall  campaign  can  be  crowned  with 
a  genuine  victory. — August  26, 1901. 

The  company  is  proud  of  its  staff  of  men,  than  whom  there  could  be  none  more 
loyal  and  faithful,  none  more  determined  to  advance  the  great  work  of  life  insur- 
ance. May  the  coming  year  bring  you  and  yours  full  measure  of  prosperity, 
happiness  and  peace.  May  our  mutual  experience  and  combined  efforts  to  make 
The  Prudential  stronger,  greater  amd  more  enduring  bring  us  constantly  nearer 
to  the  true  brotherhood  of  man,  founded  in  the  dignity  of  the  honest  labor  of 
faithful  workers  joined  in  a  common  aim. — December  21,  1903. 

The  best  field  force  in  the  world. — December  18,  1907. 

More  formidable  than  ever,  we  therefore  pass  on  from  the  old  to  the  new 
[year]  conscious  of  our  power  for  good,  profiting  by  our  experience  of  the  past, 
unflinching  in  our  determination  always  to  furnish  the  best  that  human  ingenuity 
can  contrive,  and  adhering,  with  the  utmost  tenacity,  to  our  traditional  policy  of 
conscientious  fair  dealing  and  liberality  toward  our  policyholders. — December  21, 
1909. 

Conservation  of  the  interest  of  the  meritorious  Prudential  producer,  always 
sacred  with  the  Home  Office,  will,  in  concert  with  our  plans  for  the  preservation 
and  extension  of  our  business,  have  our  fullest  attention.  A  perfect  army  of  loyal 
workers,  with  increased  individual  earnings,  is  the  aim. — December  17, 1910. 


62 


A  Tribute  of  Honor 

Agents  of  The  Prudential  Will  Erect  a  Monument 

to  Mr.  Dryden 

A  Life-size  Bronze  Statue  of  the  Deceased  President  Is  to  Be  Placed  in 
One  of  the  Buildings  of  the  Company 

To  show  in  what  high  esteem  and  reverence  the  late  president  of  The  Prudential 
Insurance  Company,  John  F.  Dryden,  who  died  on  November  24th,  and  who  was 
the  father  of  Industrial  insurance  in  America,  is  held  by  the  field  staff  of  the  com- 
pany, the  Staff  has  organized  the  "John  F.  Dryden  Memorial  Association,"  the 
object  being  to  erect  a  permanent  tribute  to  their  deceased  chief.  The  movement 
was  simultaneous  among  the  thousands  of  agents  and  it  was  explained  to  President 
Forrest  F.  Dryden  and  the  directors  of  The  Prudential  that  the  field  men  planned 
the  erection  of  a  life-size  bronze  statue  of  the  deceased  in  the  corridor  of  one  of  the 
Prudential  buildings,  at  the  same  time  requesting  approval  of  the  plan.  This  was 
granted  under  the  condition  that  no  employee  of  the  company  is  to  be  solicited 
for  a  contribution.    The  estimated  cost  of  the  statue  is  about  315,000. 

— New  Jersey  Freie  Zeitung,  Newark,  N.  J.,  March  27, 1912. 

A  Memorial  to  John  F.  Dryden 

A  memorial  bronze  statue  to  the  late  John  F.  Dryden,  the  creator  of  the  great 
Prudential  institution,  probably  to  stand  in  the  vestibule  of  one  of  the  imposing 
office  buildings  he  erected,  is  the  thought  of  the  thousands  of  employees  of  the  com- 
pany. It  is  possible  that  the  idea  will  expand  and  that  the  memorial  will  be  more 
than  the  affectionate  tribute  of  the  Prudential  force,  for  hundreds  of  admirers  of 
Mr.  Dryden  would  like  to  join  in  such  a  testimonial.  But  it  is  eminently  fitting 
that  the  man  who  accomplished  so  much  for  the  benefit  of  the  multitude  and  con- 
tributed so  greatly  to  the  welfare  of  his  city  should  be  remembered  in  enduring 
bronze. — Newark,  N.  J.,  Evening  Star,  March  27, 1912. 


WHEN  we  consider  the  enormous  extent  of  insurance,  how 
it  affects  every  commercial  and  private  interest,  how  it 
enters  every  home  from  one  end  of  the  land  to  the  other,  how 
it  sustains  individual  effort,  enhances  individual  credit,  and  pro- 
vides security  against  possible  contingencies  not  to  be  guarded 
against  by  any  other  means  yet  devised,  I  question  if  the  ingenu- 
ity of  man  could  invent  or  design  another  method  so  completely 
within  the  spirit  of  our  nationality  and  an  interest  of  such 
supreme  importance  to  the  people  of  this  land. 

— John  F.  Dryden. 


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